site.btaPM Gerdjikov Confers with New Republic Representatives to Discuss Bulgarian Position on Gazprom Deal

PM Gerdjikov Confers with New Republic Representatives to Discuss Bulgarian Position on Gazprom Deal

Sofia, April 18 (BTA) - Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdjikov conferred here on Tuesday with representatives of the New Republic political platform to discuss the Bulgarian position in the wake of a European Commission (EC) anti-trust case against Russia's Gazprom.

The meeting was held on New Republic's initiative with the participation of New Republic's Radan Kanev, Traicho Traikov and Peter Slavov, as well as Energy Minister Nikolay Pavlov.

In mid-March, the European Commission said that Gazprom had isolated the gas market in Bulgaria and another seven member states and may have been charging excessively high prices compared to Western European benchmarks, especially liquid gas hubs. The Commission therefore invited comments from Bulgaria and the other seven countries (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) on commitments submitted by Gazprom to address the Commission's competition concerns as regards gas markets in Central and Eastern Europe.

The deadline for submitting such comments expires on May 7 and New Republic has repeatedly warned that the time is running out for Bulgaria to submit its position and pave the way to better gas supply terms and prices. There is a possibility that the Bulgarian side might ask for extending the deadline after the analyses are completed.

Energy Minister Nikolay Pavlov said that the State-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD (BEH), Bulgargaz EAD and Bulgartransgaz EAD are currently "working hard" to draft detailed analyses on the commitment proposals which Gazprom has submitted to the EC.

Experts from the Energy Ministry and the State-owned companies are carefully assessing the possible impact of the commitments on Bulgaria's existing natural gas contracts, as well as on the overall natural gas market in the country and the region.

Representatives of the competent ministries and the three energy companies will discuss the topic at an international forum in Warsaw on Wednesday, organized by the Polish Energy Ministry.

Media outlets quote Traikov as saying after the meeting that the price of natural gas could decrease by 30-40 per cent, if the talks with Gazprom are handled well, which in turn could result in annual savings of around half a billion leva, much cheaper natural gas for household consumers, lower heating and hot water bills, and more bearable prices for industrial consumers - all of which translates into increased economic growth.

According to New Republic, the negotiations should aim to achieve automatically pegging natural gas prices for Bulgaria to the lower prices in Western Europe.

The Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AICB) has sent a letter to the energy and economy ministers saying that there is a need for a national political and economic consensus about Bulgaria's goals in the negotiations with Gazprom. This consensus should be reached in Parliament or during a meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security with the President.

One of Bulgaria's strategic goals, according to AICB, is to achieve a common natural gas supply price for the EU with fluctuations allowing only for the different transport costs.

The Association stressed the need for harmonizing the natural gas transit fees in the EU Member States, acknowledging that such fees in Bulgaria are much lower than the rest of the EU.

The AICB also wants additional information about Bulgaria's approach to resolving the problem with the discrepancies between the ordered and received natural gas quantities, and the fees and additional payments under the contracts with Gazprom which stem from these imbalances.

The employer organization demands that Bulgaria's position supports that of the EC, which is making the five commitments made so far by Gazprom and Gazprom Export binding.