Bulgaria hasn’t got its own gas deposits developed and its annual consumption of some 4 bln. m3 of blue fuel is almost 100% provided by Russia via Ukraine. The Bulgarian authorities do not like this, as they say such a situation makes the state much too dependent on only one foreign country in terms of energy. Besides that, Bulgaria has had its own plans ever since the collapse of the South Stream gas project to take a more important place on Europe’s energy map, by becoming a sort of a gas distributing hub, at least for South and Southeast European countries. Now the main issue is what exactly will that gas hub distribute at the Bulgarian Black Sea shore. The authorities have been putting remarkable efforts recently, in order to provide an answer to this question and to implement their idea that has even received, on the part of Brussels, promises for financial support. Now the question is how do we get gas into that hub?

The projects for diversification of gas supplies have also started to multiply, going from the stage of talks and negotiations to the phase of active construction works and actual commissioning. Moreover, PM Boyko Borrisov managed to do his best to achieve the lowest price in Europe. An eventual success of all the projects would mean that Bulgaria would offer very cheap fuel to its partners as well. The option is quite tempting and it is getting more and more real.

The Bulgarian economic zone of the Black Sea, where gas and oil deposits are to be found, supposedly enough for covering the state’s needs for at least 30 years aheadwith free export quantities available, saw the initial drillings two months ago. The East also brought the news on the decision of Putin to lift the ban on South Stream and that a new and approved by Brussels option of the gas pipeline might happen one day. The gas connections with Romania which has its own large gas deposits are the most advanced ones. After the collapse of the initial attempts for pipes crossing the bottom of the Danube River, now it looks like the problems are over and it is quite likely Romanian gas to flow towards Bulgaria. Things are also going well with Greece and its liquefied gas from the area of the Caspian Sea and the gas connection will kick off at the same time. A modernized compressor station was unveiled yesterday and fuel can flow from there at once. The projects with Turkey are a bit lagging behind, but things are moving on and the project for a gas pipeline will begin in a month or a two. An agreement was signed just the other day on supplies via Slovakia of gas coming from North Europe. This is real gas internationalization in all directions, which is good, but the issue remains on the monopoly of the Bulgartransgaz on the internal Bulgarian gas transferring grid. Brussels insists on the allowing of other players on the home market which will now actually become part of the European gas transferring network. For the moment the Bulgarian authorities consider this grid to be strategically important for the national security and are not that willing to privatize it or let other operators in as well. However, it looks like a compromise will be found, as the implementation of all these projects will result in a gas surplus inside a country, where households’ gasification is barely on the rise and the level of consumption is minor. It is no coincidence that the price of gas for households and industrial needs will drop by 10% as of July 1.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev