site.btaBulgargaz to Ease Natgas Price Proposal for September

On Thursday, Bulgargaz will ask the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) to endorse a natural gas price for September 2024 that is slightly lower than the BGN 59.54/MWh it applied for on July 12.

At an open meeting of the EWRC on Wednesday, the company's Executive Director Veselin Sinabov explained that this adjustment had to be made because of an increase in the quantities comprising the price mix. The regulated price will nevertheless remain competitive next month.

The projected price was stated exclusive of the cost of access, transmission, excise duty and value added tax. It was 1.99% lower than the BGN 59.55/MWh regulated price for natural gas endorsed by the EWRC for August.

Sinabov specified that when the Bulgargaz application was submitted on August 12, the price was considerably lower than the TTF pricing index and end suppliers that are customers of the public provider have asked for an increase of the quantities for September.

EWRC Chair Ivan Ivanov said that at this point the price on the Netherlands exchange is significantly higher than the price proposed in the Bulgargaz application.

Ivanov pointed out that the quantities injected into the Chiren Underground Gas Storage take up 86% of its capacity, and the average level in the EU already tops 91%. Ivanov sees this as a guarantee that the price will not spike in coming months.

The EWRC Chair explained that the September price of natural gas depends on two sources that are unrelated to the TTF index. One is the Azerbaijani gas, which comes in fixed monthly quantities, and the other is the natural gas injected in Chiren. Since the orders by part of the Bulgargaz customers have increased, the additional quantities have been withdrawn from Chiren.

On Thursday, Bulgargaz will propose a final price for September, Sinabov said.

The EWRC will meet on August 30, and the new prices will become effective on September 1, Ivanov said.