site.btaChiren Gas Storage Facility Could Double Its Capacity in 2019 at the Earliest, Bulgartransgaz Director Says

Chiren Gas Storage Facility
Could Double Its Capacity in 2019 at the Earliest,
Bulgartransgaz Director Says


Sofia, September 24 (BTA) - The Chiren natural gas storage
facility could double its capacity in 2019 at the earliest,
Bulgartransgaz EAD Executive Director Kiril Temelkov told
journalists here on Tuesday. He presented his company's ten year
plan for the development of its natural gas transmission
network to the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.

Temelkov's comments are in the context of recent analyses of
possible scenarios in case a crisis with the natural gas supply
from Russia through Ukraine emerges.

According to Temelkov, the Chiren gas storage facility must be
expanded and all possible options for doing this are currently
being sought. If the storage facility is expanded by
Bulgartransgaz alone, then all costs will be at the expense of
consumers.
In order to avoid this, the company has asked the EU to deem the
storage facility as being of regional and not just domestic
importance, and see it as a project of a common European
interest, Temelkov said. According to him, the EC has accepted
this view and Bulgaria is to apply for grant funding which could
cover up to 50 per cent of the project's cost.

According to preliminary estimates, the storage facility's
expansion will cost around 200 million euro, which means that
Bulgaria could get up to 100 million euro from the EU, Temelkov
explained, adding that during the recent visit of a Bulgarian
delegation to Azerbaijan, that country's State Oil Company
(SOCAR) showed interest in jointly examining the opportunities
for expanding the Chiren storage facility. Economy and Energy
Minister Vassil Shtonov also mentioned this earlier, but the
exact details surrounding this cooperation are yet to be seen,
Temelkov said.

All the documents for starting the assessment of the facility's
expansion project have been prepared already, said Temelkov. He
referred to one completed study, according to which the storage
facility's current capacity of 550 million cubic metres could
almost be doubled. However, precise geological and seismological
assessments must be conducted first, in order to determine the
parameters of the facility's possible expansion, he explained.
An application has been submitted to the EC for funding these
assessments, based on which the Bulgarian side will make its
final investment decision. Bulgaria must make this decision by
the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016 at the latest, in order to
be able to apply for EU funding, Temelkov said, adding that
according to estimates, construction will take around three
years.

The head of the Bulgarian gas transmission operator said that
all local gas extraction plans have been included in
Bulgartransgaz's ten year plan. The plan also includes the
expectations that natural gas supplies will be diversified in
the future, such as from the Caspian region with the help of
projects for gas interconnectors with Greece and Turkey and
their potential for connecting to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline
and the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline projects. Also
included are possibilities for importing gas from Central Europe
and Romania with the help of the Bulgaria-Romania
interconnector and Romania's connection with Hungary, as well as
imports from Serbia via an interconnector.

Asked why the interconnector with Romania, which should have
been ready by now, is still not functioning, Temelkov said that
there is a technical problem, consisting of a broken pipe under
the Danube River. The interconnector was supposed to start
functioning at the end of March, 2014, he said, voicing hope
that the problem will be solved by this year's end. Temelkov
explained that although the project is implemented with EU
funding, there is no risk for sanctions over the delays, because
the Bulgarian side has done everything necessary. The
contractor, on the other hand, could be penalized based on the
contract signed. PK/MY