The Minister of Energy: The prices of natural gas in Bulgaria have nothing to do with transmission and routes
The deputies heard at the request of the Minister of GERB of Energy Alexander Nikolov – the task in the construction of the gas interconnector Bulgaria Greece and the accrual of penalties for the implementation contract.
The Minister of Energy recalled the background of the project. Its beginning was added in 2009, when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Greece and Bulgaria. Nikolov then noted all the key stages in the development of the project.
The IGB (Greece-Bulgaria Gas Interconnection) project is being implemented by the joint-stock investment company ICGB AD, registered in Bulgaria in 2011 with shareholders Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) EAD (50 percent) and IGI Poseidon (50 percent). hundred). Co-shareholder IGI Poseidon is a Greek-registered company with shareholders in the Greek public gas corporation DEPA (50 per cent) and the Italian energy group Edison SpA (50 per cent).
The agreed quantities from Azerbaijan amount to 1 billion cubic meters per year or 2.7 million cubic meters per day, and according to Nikolov ICGB AD will certainly not be able to deliver the amount of natural gas during this heating year. .
The Minister of Energy stressed that he is seeking compensation from the company building the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector.
“Less than two weeks after taking office, the current decree gave a letter to the shareholders of ICGB AD requesting a calculation of the compensation and the next postponement,” Nikolov told the parliamentary rostrum. According to him, all line graphs have been prepared so far and keep an eye on their condition.
“A meeting of the board of directors is forthcoming, at which the letter for compensations requested from Bulgaria will be considered,” he stressed. According to him, the meeting with the Minister of Energy of Greece Costas Krekas is being held, and so far there have been telephone conversations.
“The lack of IGB is a convenient explanation for people who use as a reason not to have normal supplies and normal prices in Bulgaria. And this will be cleared up, I promise you,” he said.
“Natural gas prices in Bulgaria have nothing to do with transmission and the routes along which the fuel will pass,” choose Nikolov, “Nikolov added. In my opinion, blue fuel can pass to Bulgaria on alternative routes. The current situation is won by those who reduce the missing quantities of natural gas in Bulgaria, the so-called
“The companies that are currently selling the quantities that have been agreed on a long-term contract – over 25 years – are also winning,” the minister added.
“To have a project that has been extremely difficult to implement for more than 12 years and there is another that is extremely easy to implement – less than two years.
The interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria is not completed, Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said two days ago at a briefing at the ministry. He expressed hope that he would meet with his Greek counterpart soon to find out how to speed up the project and save at least the average extended deadlines.
A few days ago, Bulgargaz reminded that the only route for the supply of Azeri natural gas to Bulgaria, according to the agreement with the Azeri country, is the still unbuilt IGB gas pipeline (Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection). Its construction is the responsibility of the Greek-Bulgarian company ICGB AD. Bulgargaz EAD may influence this process, but suffers the negative effects of its construction.
In 2020, the Azeri supplier did not announce that deliveries would begin on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline to Komotini’s IGB connection point, but the IGB pipeline was not installed. In this situation, Bulgargaz warned that in addition to not being able to receive natural gas under the contract, it is also threatened with penalties.
The Azerbaijani company, for its part, is neither obliged to supply gas through a pipeline other than IGB, nor is it obliged to supply all quantities that will be delivered to IGB, additional from the Bulgarian public natural gas supplier.
After the launch of the IGB pipeline has been postponed several times, Bulgargaz said it had no choice but to negotiate with the Azerbaijani side and seek the best possible interim solution with the supplier’s consent. The Bulgarian company has contracted with the Azeri supplier to provide gas to another gas pipeline, located nearly 300 km from the IGB (via the Greek gas transmission network DESFA), the public supplier said.
At the next moment, Bulgargaz receives the quantities that the Azerbaijani supplier agrees to deliver. Obtaining the additional amount of contractual quantities for the alternative gas pipeline depends entirely on the will of the Azerbaijani side, the ability to choose the Bulgarian company.