The agreement with Bulgaria enables Turkey to take another step towards becoming a gas transport hub.
(Photo: Telesur)
SOFIA, 3rd January (RHC) – Bulgarian state-owned company Bulgargaz on Tuesday signed an agreement with its Turkish counterpart Botas on access to supply and LNG terminals to find new ways to arrive from Russia after the fuel supply disruption in 2022.
The official ceremony took place in Sofia, the capital, the Bulgarian government building, in the presence of the energy ministers of both countries, Rosen Hristov, from the Bulgarian side, and Fatih Donmez, from the Turkish side.
“In 2022 we had difficulties with gas supply and now we are solving this problem together with our colleagues from Turkey,” Hristov said after signing the contract.
“The details of the agreement were agreed on December 24-25, 2022 and today, with its signature, we mark a fresh start for large-scale cooperation in the field of energy,” he said.
“Bulgaria will have the opportunity to buy natural gas from all world producers and unload it in Turkey, which is very convenient for us, thanks to the agreement the problem with the lack of infrastructure for unloading liquefied gas has been solved,” narrowed .
The deal stipulates that for the next 13 years Bulgaria will have access to liquefied gas from various Western suppliers, with the right to participate in any negotiations with them.
Donmez hoped that 2023 would be fruitful for the development of bilateral relations, mainly on energy issues.
The signed agreement will ensure the transit of 1,500 million cubic meters of gas annually and will largely ensure security of supply for Europe and Bulgaria.
Donmez noted that the agreement with Bulgaria allows Turkey to take another step towards becoming a gas transportation hub.
In April 2022, Gazprom completely stopped gas supplies to Bulgargaz due to untimely payment of rubles.
After that, Bulgaria announced that it had found alternative supply options, notably liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and gas from Azerbaijan, at a significantly lower price than Gazprom’s offers. (Source: Telesur)