Bulgaria’s demand for cheaper gas awaits approval of the Russian side

“Bulgaria has signed and has deposited in Moscow all the documents related to the promised  discount in natural gas prices by 11.1%, as of 1 April, 2012. We are waiting for the response of the Russian side,” said officials from the press office of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism in response to a question of Klassa daily whether the contract has been finally endorsed.

“On Wednesday last week, officials from Gazprom confirmed the rebate, which was agreed upom at the end of March,” explained Dobrev on the Bulgarian National Radio. "We are still exchanging information, related to additional agreements. We are considering the roadmap, by which we will take the final investment decision on the South Stream gas pipeline - until November 15, 2012. The discount is bounded to this decision. This means that we are not late with the deadlines, because the Russian side expects to initiate the work on the marine part of the project in December,” stated Dobrev.

“Within a month, we will launch the negotiations on a new gas contract for Bulgaria,” said Dobrev. It will be a medium term contract of between 5 and 7 years, with extension options. The Russian side has assured the Minister that the agreements will be signed directly with Gazpromexport, avoiding any intermediaries. “The aim is for a lower percentage of firmly agreed quantity of natural gas to be achieved, which will enable us to use natural gas from our own production or supplied from other sources.”

"The truth is in the local production. Regardless of what terms we succeed to agree with Gazprom or any other company, the natural gas will be more expensive than the local one, since the transfer at thousands of kilometres costs a lot of money," said Dobrev. According to him, the difference between the gas produced in Bulgaria and the fuel transferred from Russia is between 40% and 50%. He gave the example of the price of natural gas produced at home and of the shale gas obtained in the USA. There, 1,000 cu m shale gas are worth $ 100, and the price of the same quantity natural gas in Bulgaria is nearly $500.

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