Energy minister: Slot agreed for unloading of one LNG tanker in October

Bulgaria contracted only one tanker of liquefied natural gas with the US company Chenier on the last day the offer was valid, the caretaker Energy Minister Rosen Hristov said at an extraordinary briefing at the ministry on August 19.

"Today we managed to negotiate a slot to unload a tanker of liquefied gas in Turkey and we accepted Chenier's offer to deliver a ship in October. For November and December, we could not find slots that were economically priced. Therefore, Chenier adjusted the offer for the delivery of a tanker in October under the same conditions," said the caretaker minister Rosen Hristov.

The caretaker government continues to rely on long-term contracts, i.e. pipeline gas contracts to be signed within 6 months to 1 year. Negotiations are underway with three Turkish companies. Negotiations with Azerbaijan will also resume after the Azeri ambassador has assured the caretaker government that the necessary reserves are available and such talks can be initiated.

The caretaker government was only able to negotiate a tanker with a quantity of 1 million megawatt hours at a competitive price of 150 euros per megawatt hour. In recent days, the blue fuel was traded on the Dutch exchange for 250 euros. This gas will only last for 10 days in October.

Rosen Hristov specified that the delivery will be in Turkey, where the previous two Chenier tankers were delivered. Negotiations to find delivery slots were extremely difficult, Hristov admitted. He thanked the company for being flexible and keeping the delivery terms for one tanker. This secured a large part of the quantity for October at a price competitive with market conditions, the energy minister said.

"From now on, we will focus our efforts on signing medium-term contracts and to ensure consistent supply of piped gas at competitive prices. We have offers for gas and this does not bother us. What worries us is the price and the trend of the market to systematic increase in prices. At the moment we are getting gas at over EUR 300 per megawatt hour, which is borderline for most companies in the industry. And this price will cause inflation, which will be difficult to bear for some companies," Rosen Hristov further explained.

We have not given up on LNG and Bulgaria will participate in the tenders that Greece will launch in the autumn to reserve slots in the expanded LNG terminal, but for 2023.