Bulgaria will also announce a tender for piped natural gas, and Romania is ready to buy the surplus – Bulgaria
Today, Bulgaria will announce a new tender for the supply of natural gas, but this time it will not be for liquefied gas, but for pipelines. This was announced by the Acting Minister of Energy Rosen Hristov to BNT. According to him, offers are expected from companies in Greece and Turkey, where there are excess quantities. He also explains that there is great interest in the tenders for the supply of liquefied gas announced a few days ago and he expects a contract to be concluded soon.
Hristov even talked about selling excess quantities of gas if our country makes all the supplies it is negotiating for. Romania has shown interest in Bulgarian surpluses. The minister reassured that there is no shortage of natural gas for our country, even stressing that “we cannot be flooded with gas and wonder what to do with it”.
About a month ago, Hristov announced that he was out of Bulgaria to renew his negotiations with “Gazprom” for the supply of natural gas. However, the markets calmed down and gas prices stopped rising. Despite the fact that there are no expected problems with supplies, the energy minister has not yet given up on negotiations with the Russian company.
“We still do not have an answer from Gazprom Export to our question about the resumption of supplies. At first it helped us wait to think, and nothing has changed since then. Therefore, we are conducting other negotiations to ensure the necessary quantities. I still think that you should not reject a potential supplier, no matter how much you work the negotiations with him”, stated Rosen Hristov.
He added that in mid-October Greece will announce an auction for liquefied gas slots for 2023 and Bulgaria will participate in it. It is expected that there will be a similar trader in Turkey. Only after our country secures a terminal will an offer be sought for the delivery of a tanker at a good price. “Gas at any price is of no use to anyone,” said Hristov.
He adds that Bulgaria continues to send its daily requests to “Gazprom” for the supply of natural gas in order to be a bona fide partner under the contract. However, the minister specified that neither the official nor any other government would like to go to an arbitration case.
Hristov expects today or at the latest a few days for the interconnector with Greece to receive Act 16 and start working from October 1.