site.btaState Companies Ready with Opinions on EC's Antitrust Case against Gazprom

State Companies Ready with Opinions on EC's Antitrust Case against Gazprom

Sofia, April 21 (BTA) - State-run companies Bulgargaz, Bulgartransgaz and Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) have prepared their opinions on Gazprom's proposals to change its business practices to settle an EU antitrust case focused on Central and Eastern European natural gas markets, the Energy Ministry said.

The commitments will enable cross-border gas flows at competitive prices.

On April 19, experts analysed the proposed commitments at the V4 Gas Forum held by the Visegrad countries with the participation of Bulgaria's Energy Ministry and the three state-owned companies.

Based on the discussions in Warsaw, the three energy companies are presenting their opinions at the Ministry on Friday. They will include an evaluation of the impact of Gazprom's proposals on the contracts with Bulgargaz, Bulgartransgaz and BEH.

The Energy Ministry recalls that the European Commission set the May 4 deadline for comments on the commitments from all interested parties, and not for renegotiation of terms of the current agreements on natural gas supply and transmission. If the European Commission accepts Gazprom's proposals, each company will start negotiations with Gazprom about the trading terms.

The antitrust case concerns the gas markets of eight EU Member States: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.