site.btaAzeri Firm SOCAR Eyes Expansion of Bulgaria's Chiren Gas Storage

Azeri Firm SOCAR Eyes Expansion of  Bulgaria's Chiren Gas Storage

Baku/Sofia, September 30 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Energy Ministry said Azeri state energy company SOCAR is interested in the expansion of the capacity of the Chiren underground gas storage facility.

The facility in Chiren can currently store 550 million cubic metres of gas, a capacity that would be raised to 1 billion cubic metres after the planned upgrade.

The expansion of the Chiren gas storage is a key precondition for the construction of the Balkan gas hub, a project eyed by the Azeri side.

"The Bulgarian government has stepped up efforts to ensure the diversification of delivery routes to the country and the region by building gas interconnectors with neighboring countries," Deputy Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said, quoted by his Ministry, emerging from a meeting with SOCAR executives in Baku.

Stankov stressed the key importance of the interconnectors with Greece and Turkey for Bulgaria's energy security. "Those two projects, coupled with the developed national gas distribution grid, will ensure access to the Southern Gas Corridor not only for Bulgaria but also for the countries in Southeast and Central Europe," Stankov said.

Updating the participants in the meeting on the progress of the Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnector, Stankov said that the final investment decision signed for the project provides for its capacity to be raised to over 10 billion cubic metres in case of commercial interest.

For its part, SOCAR reconfirmed the reserved capacity of 50 million cubic metres during the first phase of the market test for the Bulgaria-Greece interconnector. The company has expressed interest to reserve at least as much capacity during the second phase which is in progress.

Stankov said that Bulgaria, which has signed an agreement to receive 1 billion cubic metres of gas from the Shah Deniz II project in the Caspian Sea after 2019, met a key precondition for the implementation of the gas supply deal with SOCAR with adoption of the final investment decision on the interconnector with Greece.

The Deputy Minister and SOCAR agreed at the meeting that a newly set-up joint gas and oil working group should look in detail into the opportunities to raise the volume of deliveries for Bulgaria also from other gas fields in Azerbaijan.

Earlier during his working visit, Stankov met with Azeri counterparts Suleiman Savadov and Balash Abasov.

"I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the support of the Bulgarian side for the development of the Southern Gas Corridor as the fourth route for the delivery of natural gas to the EU," Stankov said.

The three deputy energy ministers discussed key joint projects in the energy sector and voiced their firm stance in favor of developing close cooperation between the two states.