Bulgaria to try to renew contract for supply of Azeri gas 

Bulgaria will try to renew the contract for the supply of cheap Azeri gas, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told journalists on March 15, Report informs, citing the Bulgarian media.

The chairperson of the board of directors of the public gas supplier "Bulgargaz", Ivan Topchiski, explained that the company had asked for a 58% increase in the price of natural gas for April because of the drastic rise at international stock quotes, but the markets are now calming down.

Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov said: "By the end of the month, if the war does not escalate, prices could remain at their current or lower levels."

"Bulgargaz" explained that yesterday's proposal for a drastic price increase was dictated by external factors but stated that the markets are calming down.

"The first 10 days, you know, in a state of war, quotations and stock indices are very high. From now on, we see a reduction in these quotes, so we expect the values towards the end of the month, when the energy regulator EWRC will actually look at the now official statistics on these indices, to see a reduction from this proposal," said Ivan Topchinski, chair of "Bulgargaz" board of directors.

The energy minister reassured households that use gas.

"What we are doing on an ongoing basis is to review what the household gas consumption will be in April. Depending on the price, a decision will be made towards the end of the month on what the compensation should look like and whether it should be extended for another month," said the energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
He pointed out that the government is looking for options to solve the country's long-term dependence on Russian gas.

"Alternative routes and alternative supplies are the methods that can lead to much lower prices," Nikolov said.

The prime minister said that if Bulgaria had not given up on cheap Azeri gas and renewed the contract, which expires this month, the price of blue fuel would have been different now. He assured that the government would do everything necessary to sign a new contract with Baku.