Bulgaria, Azerbaijan in talks on increasing gas supplies to Europe

Bulgaria is in talks with Azerbaijan on increasing natural gas supplies, acting Bulgarian Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov said on Bulgarian National Television, Report informs.

“Bulgaria is currently negotiating with Azerbaijan to increase supplies of natural gas not only through Greece, but also through Türkiye. At the moment, about 35% of blue fuel comes to our country from the Caspian Sea through Greece, i.e. through the Southern Gas corridor," he said.

“There are also additional volumes that SOCAR sells on the free market, and they come through Türkiye. However, the prices for these volumes are higher than under the long-term contract with Baku,” Malinov explained.

The minister said he held talks on the issue with his Azerbaijani counterpart Parviz Shahbazov during his visit to Baku last week within a delegation accompanying Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

“We discussed a long-term agreement, according to which SOCAR and Türkiye will provide the opportunity to pump additional volumes of gas from the Caspian region. And we expect that through these supplies, SOCAR will increase gas sales on the Bulgarian market, as well as additional volumes through our gas transportation network will reach the markets of Central and Eastern Europe," Malinov explained.

Last year 1.25 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas were supplied to Bulgaria. This year the volume of supplies will be 1.5 billion cubic meters.