Bulgaria has sufficient fuel reserves for about three months, but despite this, gas station prices continue to rise. This was commented on bTV by Dr. Ivan Hinovski, Chairman of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum.
According to him, the presence of reserves should reassure society, but the price movement remains difficult to explain.
„The fact that we have such a large reserve should reassure us. My only concern is that despite the reserves and despite the methodical production of large quantities of liquid fuels, prices are rising. These reactions at the pumps are inexplicable“, he pointed out.
According to Hinovski, Bulgaria should not be greatly affected by the blocking of international routes or geopolitical tensions surrounding oil supplies.
“Bulgaria can be said to be an island, independent of the global liquid fuel business. We have sufficient reserves, we buy oil from Kazakhstan. We should not worry about a rapid development of prices“, he explained.
Nevertheless, the expert believes that the increase in prices at gas stations is the result of market speculation.
“Why is the price at the pumps moving up? In my opinion, this is speculation. We do not have market circumstances that would justify these prices“, said Dr. Hinovski.
He also recalled an idea discussed by experts in the energy sector – the production price of fuels to be placed under regulatory control.
„We are not talking about a regulated market. The market is free, but the production price must be under regulatory control. We do not know what the cost of our product is“, he explained.
According to him, it is possible that some producers are withholding quantities of fuels in order to make higher profits.
„This is sometimes the practice of some producers – "they hold back production, create an artificial crisis and then, when the price rises, they release the quantities onto the market," the expert commented.
According to him, diesel is rising in price faster than gasoline because of its higher consumption.
“Diesel consumption is much higher than gasoline“, he explained.
Hinovski warned that even if the conflict in the Middle East were to end, prices would not normalize quickly.
“In no case can this happen quickly. "Restoring a refinery and normalizing supplies could take at least a month, a month and a half, even more," he said.
The expert also commented on the situation with natural gas, pointing out that there is currently no sharp increase in price on European exchanges.
“In recent days, there has even been a slight drop in the price of natural gas“, he noted.
A more serious problem, according to him, is the low level of filling of gas storage facilities in Europe.
“The amount of gas in European storage facilities is at a record low. This could also affect our economy, because if they start filling them now, gas prices and production prices of many raw materials will soar“, warned Dr. Hinovski.
He also commented on the plans to expand nuclear capacity in Bulgaria until 2037.
“This means that we will have another 2,000 megawatts of nuclear generation – these are the new seventh and eighth units. This deficit of base capacity has recently had an extremely severe impact on the energy system“, said the chairman of the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum.