Bulgaria expects to receive an additional 200-300 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan for the upcoming heating season, the country’s energy agency Rosen Christ told the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.
“Negotiations with Azerbaijan are underway to increase gas volumes, at least for the heating season – another 200-300 million cubic meters of gas. There are signs that the Azerbaijani side is ready to discuss this proposal,” he said and expressed hope for a successful Completion of negotiations.
The current contract says that Bulgaria can receive 1 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas. The actual volumes of supplies are lower, since there was not enough capacity for this. From October 1, 2022, Greece-Bolgaria (IGB) should be officially launched, which will allow Sofia to reach the gas procurement spelled out in the contract. At the same time, in Sofia, they count on the receipt of additional gas volumes from Azerbaijan – about 0.5-1 billion cubic meters per year.
The supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe – Italy, Greece and Bulgaria – began on December 31, 2020 at the trans -adiatic gas pipeline (TAP). Due to the lack of interconnector, the volume of supply of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria was several times less planned-250-300 million cubic meters per year instead of 1 billion cubic meters per year.
Interonnector was connected to the system in March 2022. Its capacity is 3 billion cubic meters per year, but it can be increased to 5 billion cubic meters due to more powerful gas compressors, which is very interested in Romania.