Bulgaria's request to postpone finalisation of a binding offer for delivery of the 7 LNG tanker, was refused

Bulgaria has received a refusal from the US company Chenier to extend the timeline for the binding offer for dlivery of the seven LNG tankers.

The deadline for signing the contract expires on August 19, the caretaker Energy Minister Rosen Hristov said on August 18 during the inspection of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector. By September 14, all the finishing works have to be completed so that the actual operation of the gas link can start from the beginning of October.

The American company Chenier, which was to deliver 7 tankers of liquefied gas for the coming months, has refused to extend the offer, which expires tomorrow. The caretaker government has asked for more time to secure slots for the unloading of the gas as none have been agreed.

"Unfortunately, they are unable to extend the offer, that is, we have till the 19th to designate a terminal for unloading the liquefied gas. Yesterday I had a meeting with Turkey's deputy energy minister, who committed to answer before the deadline if they have any terminals we can use in the coming months. They should reply by the end of the day or tomorrow morning," said caretaker Energy Minister Rosen Hristov.

However, even if we do not get the US liquefied natural gas, the public supplier “Bulgargaz” has received very good offers in the first of a series of tenders that were announced for September and supplies will be secured, Hristov assured. As of yesterday, the interconnector with Greece is already connected to the national gas grid. This step was present in the operator's schedule.

"It happened with two days of serious work and quite successful golden welds that were made. This means that we are now connected to the Komotini trans Adriatic pipeline. This means that gas can be transported from Komotini, through the IGB to Stara Zagora into the Bulgarian gas transmission system," explained Teodora Georgieva, the project's executive director on the Bulgarian side.

The timetable for the completion of all activities for the issuance of Act 16 and the commissioning of the new gas pipeline is now ready in detail.

"This timetable will be the starting point from now on. We will be present here weekly on Thursdays at the company's operational meetings, so as to monitor the implementation, but also to assist with all our experts and resources so that the project is completed and commissioned by 1 October," said Rossen Hristov, caretaker energy minister.

The system is currently being tested by injecting pressurised gas and monitoring for possible leaks to be fixed.

"We have full progress here in Bulgaria. And in Greece we are also working hard. Next week we are going to have the audit and issue the permit on our side as well," assured Georgios Satlas, executive director of the project on the Greek side.

According to the energy minister, before reaching negotiations with Gazprom, which have been announced, the first options are to negotiate larger quantities from Azerbaijan, as well as talks with large Turkish companies interested in short-term contracts.