Bulgarian authorities agreed with Azerbaijan on the exchange of electricity for gas

Bulgaria plans to increase the volume of deliveries through the southern gas corridor in order to receive up to 2 billion cubic meters from Azerbaijan. m of gas annually, said Nikola Stoyanov, Minister of Economy and Industry of the country’s technical government, in an interview with the Bulgarian National Television. The countries are also discussing the issue of gas supplies in exchange for electricity.

“Electricity in Azerbaijan is produced from gas, and we are a major producer of electricity, we export it and have overproduction. Therefore, there is a fundamental possibility of our deliveries of electricity to Azerbaijan, and they will send the volumes of gas necessary for the production of a similar amount of electricity to us,” Stoyanov said following the talks in Baku (quoted from TASS). He specified that agreements on barter supplies of electricity and gas could be fulfilled within four to five months.

The minister also confirmed that from October 1, after the final completion of the construction of the Bulgarian-Greek interconnector, Bulgaria will receive billions of cubic meters. m of Azerbaijani gas annually.

“They offered us, as a traditional partner, to provide an additional share of gas from the future expansion of the southern gas corridor. This means that we will be able to receive 2 billion cubic meters annually. gas on the basis of a long-term agreement with Azerbaijan, which will be about 60% of our needs,” Stoyanov said.

He added that employees of the Ministry of Energy will continue negotiations with Azerbaijan on the price, timing of gas supplies and other technical aspects. Stoyanov predicts that supply volumes may grow within three to four years.

At the end of August, the Bulgarian authorities announced that it was mandatory will negotiate with company “Gazprom export” on the resumption of gas supplies. On April 27, Gazprom completely suspended gas supplies to the Bulgarian company Bulgargaz due to its refusal to pay in rubles. In the summer, gas prices began to rise sharply. In particular, in July the price of one megawatt-hour was about 95 euros, and already in August it increased 1.5 times to 149 euros. It is expected that growth will continue in September.

Azerbaijan supplies its gas through the Trans-Adriatic pipeline only to three European countries – Greece, Italy and Bulgaria. It was launched in 2021, however, due to the fact that there was no interconnector in Bulgaria, the volumes were reduced by three to four times, that is, instead of 1 billion cubic meters. m of gas Bulgaria last year was able to receive only 280 million cubic meters. m. Russia remained the main supplier. It is planned to put the new interconnector into operation in October-November 2022, in this regard, it is expected that the volume of gas supplied will increase to 600 million cubic meters. m.