site.btaEC Presents Seven Recommendations to Bulgaria on Gas Supply Security This Winter

EC Presents Seven Recommendations to Bulgaria on Gas Supply Security This Winter

Brussels, October 16 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The
European Commission (EC) Thursday presented seven
recommendations to Bulgaria on the security of gas supply this
winter. The recommendations are part of the joint assessment of
the EU's readiness to act in case of disruption of gas supplies
in the following months.

The EC said that in case of a gas crisis it will allow as a last
resort the short-term exclusion of the Varna Thermal Power
Plant from the rules in the sphere of ecology.
The other recommendations include: more transparency in the
sector, faster implementation of the internal market rules in
the sphere of trade, mutually favourable agreements with Greece
and Turkey on gas and electricity exchange in extraordinary
situations, finalization of the connection with the Romanian gas
transmission network, and provision of a route for gas supplies
to Macedonia.

In its report presented on Thursday, the Commission reviews a
scenario in which Russian gas supplies are disrupted for six
months. In such a case, Bulgaria would be one of the most
affected EU Member States together with Croatia, Greece, Hungary
and Romania. The EC specifies that the main solution to a gas
supply crisis would be the terminals for liquid gas. The report
presents hypothetical scenarios such as interruption of gas
supplies only through Ukraine and the full interruption of
Russian gas supplies to the EU.

EC experts say that in the 2009 crisis with Russian gas
supplies, Bulgaria was the most affected EU Member State,
because the country did not have connections with the
neighbouring gas pipelines and did not have a terminal for
liquid gas. They note that the situation in Bulgaria has
improved as a result of the infrastructure's development.
However, if the Russian gas supplies are disrupted this winter
and Bulgaria's neighbouring countries are not able to help,
Bulgaria will experience a supply shortfall of up to 80 per cent
(if the accumulated reserves are not taken into view).

In the experts' words, if countries work together, instead of
adopting purely national measures, no household in the EU would
have to be affected by the gas supply disruption. The report,
however, focuses on the technical issues and not on the gas
prices and their change in case of a gas supply crisis. The
experts note that in case of a sharp price increase the
governments will have the freedom to temporarily interfere and
introduce measures to relieve consumers. According to the
experts, Bulgaria is in a far better situation than in 2009
because now it is able to provide gas for households even if the
gas supplies are interrupted completely.