Bulgaria will begin receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan from December 31, 2020, said Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova
“The agreement with Azerbaijan is an extremely important contract, which is related to the implementation of our priorities – the diversification of natural gas supplies. This will give us the opportunity to get a new source for Bulgaria from December 31 this year,” Petkova said at a government meeting.
The head of the Ministry of Energy clarified that until early October 2021 Bulgaria will receive natural gas through a temporary possible delivery point that connects the TAP gas pipeline with the Greek gas transmission system.
“In the meantime, we are continuing the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline (Interconnector Greece – Bulgaria, IGB). After a transitional period of several months, Azerbaijani gas will be received through the connection point of TAP and IGB – Komotini. The delay in the construction of the interconnection is related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Petkova said.
“On January 1, 2021, we will welcome Azerbaijani gas, which many generations of politicians have talked about with Azerbaijan. We guarantee that on January 1 next year we will have not only diversification, but also Azerbaijani gas,” said, in turn, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
According to the contract signed by Burgas with SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year will be supplied to Bulgaria from the Shah Deniz field as part of its Stage-2 development for 25 years.
Caspian Barrel
