site.btaGas Supplies to All Users in Bulgaria Went as Scheduled on New Year's Day

Gas Supplies to All Users in Bulgaria Went as Scheduled on New Year's Day

Sofia, January 1 (BTA) - Bulgartransgaz Executive Director Georgi Gegov told a news briefing on Friday that natural gas was supplied as scheduled to all users in Bulgaria on the night of Thursday to Friday.

He talked to the media after another meeting between Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and energy experts.

Jacklen Cohen, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), said private company Overgas had submitted a request to BEH subsidiary Bulgargaz, the sole public supplier of natural gas in the territory of Bulgaria. As a result, Overgas clients had not experienced difficulties on the first day of 2016. Cohen said he was surprised that this had been done at the last minute, and thanked Russia's Gazprom for showing understanding.

Answering a question, Gegov said that at this stage the price of natural gas supplies to Bulgargaz remains unchanged. As of January 4, Bulgaria will order supplies of 9.062 million cubic metres, up from 8.8 million cu m now. Based on talks with Gazprom Export and with Bulgargaz Executive Director Petyo Ivanov, Gegov said that the price of supplies to Bulgaria would not be changed.

After Thursday's meeting between BEH's management and Borissov, he said that Bulgargaz and Overgas Networks had signed a contract and the increased amounts requested by Bulgargaz would be supplied from January 1. "If this had not been done, gas supplies to household users would have stopped at midnight. People at Overgas know very well that Bulgargaz can draw 8.8 million cubic metres a day and has to pay 10 per cent more for larger amounts," said Borissov.

Borissov stressed that Gazprom had stated it could supply larger volumes, and that he had authorized Gegov to negotiate supplies without the 10 per cent surcharge.

For its part, Overgas Inc. said on Wednesday that Gazprom Export had not issued an official warning that gas supplies to Bulgaria would be suspended. The contract between the two companies does not mention the Sofia-based Balkan Dispatcher Centre which spread the news about zero supplies, Overgas said.

The company had already informed its industrial customers to contact Bulgargaz in case supplies stopped. Households and small users are not faced with a suspension of supplies because they are protected by the legislation, Overgas said.

Reacting to media stories about a scenario for a take-over of Overgas' business, Cohen said the State and the State-owned companies had done everything possible to avoid problems. "Clearly, the expected suspension of supplies to Overgas would not have come as a surprise to some people." He added that no gas was supplied to Ovargas on the night of Thursday to Friday.