Bulgaria to start natural gas imports from Azerbaijаn as of December 31

Sofia, December 23 - Nefetgaz.RU. According to the statement of the Bulgarian government, the country will start receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan via Greece as of December 31, diversifying its supplies, the local Seenews reported.

Bulgaria will import some 1 billion m³/year of natural gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan for a period of 25 years under a contract between public gas supplier Bulgargaz and Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company SOCAR.

Until the beginning of October 2021 Bulgaria will receive the Azeri natural gas through Kulata entry point, on the border with Greece.
After that, the supplies will be received through the Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnection, currently under construction.

The pipeline, with a total estimated cost of $269.6 million, will connect the Greek gas transmission system (GTS) in the area of Komotini to the Bulgarian GTS in the area of Stara Zagora.
The projected capacity will be to 3 billion m³/year in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria, which can subsequently be increased to 5 billion m³/year.

The planned length of the gas link is 182 km, most of which will be laid on Bulgarian territory.
Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov said last month that 159 km of line pipes for the gas interconnection were delivered, of which 72 km were welded.

Currently, Bulgaria imports almost all of the natural gas it needs from Russia.


Author: Aleksia Petrova