site.btaSuspension of Azeri Gas Supplies Continues But Won't Affect February Price, Bulgargaz Says

Azerbaijan has not resumed natural gas supplies as at Thursday, Bulgargaz told BTA when asked about the expected resumption of supplies to Bulgaria on January 15. Citing the latest available reports, the public supplier said the technical issues had not been resolved yet. The new indicative date for the resumption of supplies is January 19.

Bulgargaz stressed that the suspension of deliveries from Azerbaijan in January would not affect the price proposed by the public supplier for February. On Wednesday, the company proposed a 2.6% price rise from January for approval by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.

At BGN 81.94 per MWh, the price of natural gas in January approved by the energy regulator is 7.97% higher than in December 2024.

Bulgargaz said that, considering the transmission capacity and the flexibility under signed contracts, the company is fulfilling its customers' requests using diverse sources, including the Chiren underground gas storage facility, imports of LNG from previous deliveries stored in Turkiye, and LNG from the terminal in Alexandroupolis.

Early in January, Bulgargaz announced that Azerbaijan had suspended supplies from January 7. Alternative supplies were secured by Turkish energy company BOTAS under its agreement with Bulgargaz, the Bulgarian company said.

On January 11, it emerged that supplies were suspended due to a malfunction of a pipeline carrying natural gas from the bottom of the Caspian Sea to the Sangachal Terminal on the Caspian shore south of the capital Baku. The report was confirmed to the local Trend News Agency by British energy giant BP, the lead partner in a consortium operating the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan.

On January 13, Bulgargaz told BTA that gas supplies from Azerbaijan were expected to resume on January 15.