Deputy PM: No gas quantities secured for October

Speaking at a briefing on August 22, Hristo Alexiev, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications, chairman of the crisis management headquarters, said that the things related to the completion of the gas interconnector with Greece were brought under control. “A lot of time has been wasted, in which nothing has been done in reality," he added.

Gas secured at any price does not work for business and the population. There can be no compensation at the moment because there is no National Assembly in place," Hristo Alexiev said.

"Obviously we will have to negotiate with Gazprom, but these will be very difficult and tough talks. The ministry has prepared different options for talks, but they are waiting for a response from Gazprom. The previous government did not supervise the interconnector, a number of problems have accumulated relating to construction and documentation, and we have seen complete chaos and a leadership that has not been cooperative in solving the problem. "Sofia district heating owes hundreds of millions to Bulgargaz and there is no way this will end under the current way of management, on the contrary, it is expected to grow by 300 million per month," Energy Minister Rosen Hristov said.

In his words, the focus will be on the optimisation of supply on a systemic order.

"There is plenty of gas at whatever price, we are looking for an optimal price. We have received a linear timetable for the interconnector for the submission of documents and the completion of other construction works. Commitments have been made, including to President Rumen Radev, that the interconnector will be operational by October 1," the energy minister added.

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Rosen Hristov said that tals with Azerbaijan have started to negotiate additional gas quantities.

"Regarding Sofia district heating, we are creating a working group of financial and technical experts to find a cardinally different solution to the issue, i.e. a complete restructuring of Sofia district heating, finding an option for investment and modernisation of the equipment, the problem is the inefficient operation," Rosen Hristov said.

"For LPG we have to provide the necessary infrastructure, as well as the necessary logistics, a meeting is to be held, by regulation we have to reduce the consumption of natural gas by 15 percent, as the moment for derogation was missed by the previous government," added Hristo Alexiev.

Vasil Velev, chairman of the board of the Association of Industrial Capital (AICC), said that opportunities should be sought to compensate businesses at prices above 250 BGN per MWh.

"We have no alternative to the contract with Gazprom in terms of prices, the difference is measured in hundreds of millions of BGN per month, which we lose," Vasil Velev said.

Vanya Grigorova of "Podkrepa" trade union added that it is already difficult to find funds for compensation for businesses and noted that many more households are expected to experience difficulties this winter.

"We are trying to find a solution so that there is no need for compensation," Deputy Prime Minister Hristo Alexiev said.