Bulgaria, which imports nearly all of the gas it consumes from Russia, intends to obtain 50% of its gas from other sources by the end of the year, said Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, as cited by the Energy Ministry’s press service.

“As for natural gas, our country will continue working to diversify our sources and routes for the country,” said the minister. She added that “by the end of the year, 50% of the country’s consumption of natural gas will be diversified”, Interfax reports.

Bulgaria currently consumes around 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year. However, Petkova clarified that the country is expecting deliveries of liquefied natural gas (including from the US), as well as fuel from Azerbaijan (through the TANAP pipeline).

On January 1, 2020, Bulgaria started receiving Russian gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine. Vladimir Malinov, executive director of BulgarTransGaz, said at the time that negotiations with GazpromExport had been concluded in the last few days of 2019, and that Bulgaria would start receiving Russian gas through Turkey as of January 1.

According to the agreements, Bulgaria will receive 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas per year through the Turkish Stream pipeline. In this way, Sofia is hoping to save around €35 million. Bulgarian experts estimate that gas will become 5% cheaper as a result.

(C)UAWIRE 2020