site.bta Prolonged Natural Gas Crisis Would Limit Industrial Enterprises' Work - Energy Minister Shtonov

Prolonged Natural Gas Crisis Would Limit Industrial Enterprises' Work - Energy Minister Shtonov

Sofia, September 23 (BTA) - If the natural gas supply from
Russia is stopped or limited, the situation in Bulgaria will get
serious because around 95 per cent of the natural gas consumed
in this country comes from a single pipe. If the crisis lasts
more than 20 to 30 days, there will surely be consequences for
businesses, said Economy and Energy Minister Vassil Shtonov here
on Tuesday during the opening of the Second Regional Forum on
"Natural Gas: Infrastructure, Markets and Services", organized
by the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers.

The expectations in case of a natural gas crisis are that this
country could cope during the first month, but if the crisis
lasts any longer, a process of limiting supplies for the
industrial consumers will have to be initiated. The first
enterprises to be affected will be the ones with an
non-continuous production cycle, followed by the ones with a
continuous production cycle. Households using gas for heating
comprise only three per cent and, being protected consumers,
will be the last ones to have their supply cut, Shtonov said.

The Minister once again outlined the back up plans in case the
natural gas supply from Russia is stopped or limited -
extraction from the Chiren storage facility, having heating
utility companies change their fuel source to heating oil and
getting natural gas from Greece via the interconnector.

Domestic extraction amounts to around five per cent of daily
consumption. The Chiren storage facility can provide a maximum
of around four million cubic metres per day, given a winter time
daily consumption of around 10-11 million cubic metres. Options
are currently being explored for having heating utility
companies change to heating oil in case the need arises, along
with the logistics for supplying the necessary quantities of
such oil, Shtonov explained.

There is already an agreement with Greece, which allows Bulgaria
to get between one to three million cubic metres per day in
case of a crisis, Shtonov said, adding that he hopes a supply of
up to five million cubic metres can be negotiated, which would
eliminate the need to impose limits on anyone. According to the
Minister, however, in case of a crisis Greece itself will be
faced with difficulties. Shtonov said that there is a reserved
capacity via the purchase of financial instruments (futures
contracts), which would allow Bulgaria to get natural gas from
Greece at a fixed price. Answering a question, the Minister said
that this price will surely be higher than the current prices
at which Bulgaria gets gas from Russia, but sufficient gas
quantities must be ensured for Bulgaria.

Gas is currently being pumped into the Chiren storage facility
and it will be full to around 80 per cent of its capacity by
Monday, which is around 440 million cubic metres of natural gas.
The problem is that gas can not be extracted quickly enough
from the facility. In case of a crisis, Bulgaria would hope to
be exempt from EU rules concerning heating oil pollution, the
Minister added.