site.btaAzerbaijan Confirms Plans to Supply 1 Billion Cubic Metres of Natural Gas to Bulgaria Annually

Azerbaijan Confirms Plans to Supply 1 Billion Cubic Metres of Natural Gas to Bulgaria Annually

Baku/Sofia, February 22 (BTA) - Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev on Wednesday confirmed to his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolai Pavlov that the Caspian country is committed to supplying 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Bulgaria annually, Pavlov's ministry reported.

The two ministers met in Baku to discuss bilateral relations in the energy sector.

Pavlov is in the Azeri capital for the third ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, which will be held on Thursday. The Bulgarian delegation to the event also includes the executive directors of the Bulgarian Energy Holding and the state-owned gas companies.

Pavlov noted that supplying the agreed amounts of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria requires building the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB). The project is of key importance for the diversification of natural gas sources and supply routes to Bulgaria, he said.

The documents for the IGB contract bidding procedure are being prepared and the construction of the pipeline can start at the beginning of 2018, Pavlov said. The important thing is that the funding has been secured, he added. The IGB project has received 45 million euro in grant aid under the European Energy Programme for Recovery. Also, the Bulgarian government has provided a 110 million euro guarantee for loans from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development under favourable terms. An active effort is in progress to get additional grants from the EU's structural and investment funds.

After intensive negotiations with Azerbaijan's gas company AGSC and thanks to the support of the country's oil company SOCAR, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan solved in a timely manner all outstanding issues about the implementation of a contract between Bulgargaz and AGSC concerning the supply of natural gas from the Shah Deniz 2 field, Pavlov said.

The Energy Ministry in Sofia, Bulgargaz, and the Bulgarian Energy Holding (as a shareholder in IGB) have provided sufficient guarantees to convince AGSC that Bulgaria is firmly committed to building the Greece-Bulgaria pipeline on schedule, Pavlov said.

He noted that Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are also cooperating for the construction of a Balkan Gas Hub in his country, which is officially a project of shared interest for the EU member states.

He invited Azeri companies to bid for a contract in Bulgaria for 3D seismic studies relevant to the expansion of the gas storage facility at Chiren.

The Bulgarian Energy Minister stated that the building of natural gas interconnectors with neighbouring countries and the development of the gas market are a priority for his government absorbing considerable funding.

For his part, Aliyev said Azerbaijan can increase its natural gas output and it is interested in Bulgaria's gas projects. "We are ready to participate, particularly in the gas storage project," Aliyev said. He also expressed his confidence that the IGB pipeline will be built on time.

Aliyev described Bulgaria as a leader vis-а-vis the Southern Gas Corridor. Discussing the Balkan Gas Hub project, the Azeri Energy Minister said this is a very interesting initiative. Azerbaijan expects that Caspian gas will also reach other European countries via Bulgaria - and Romania can be one of them, he said.

Pavlov and Aliyev agreed to help organize a bilateral meeting on expanded energy cooperation.