The renegotiation of the contract for access to the Turkish gas network with the state company " Botash" it will not be easy. This was announced to BNT by the acting Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov. Malinov himself announced that he is moderately optimistic about the renegotiation.
"I am learned, so every decision of the National Assembly must be implemented. There is a decision to renegotiate the contract with "Botash". I immediately held a meeting with the Turkish energy minister and stated our firm position. It will not be easy to renegotiate the contract, as Turkey has achieved an economic benefit from it, but we understand that the contract was signed in a different economic environment," Malinov explained.
The National Assembly obliged the Ministry of Energy at the end of April to renegotiate the contract with "Botash", which is for 13 years and stipulates that Bulgaria will pay more than 2.2 billion dollars under it. According to the contract, our country is obliged to pay 500,000 dollars each day for access and transmission of gas through the Turkish gas system, regardless of whether it transfers quantities or not.
The main argument of the caretaker government of Galab Donev for the contract to be concluded is that at that time Bulgaria did not have enough alternative routes for the supply of blue fuel. According to the contract, our country can receive liquefied gas at the terminals of Turkey, as the same quantities of "Botas" supplies the border with its natural gas.
Meanwhile, Malinov also announced that Bulgaria is currently negotiating with Azerbaijan to increase the supply of natural gas to Bulgaria and through Turkey, not only through Greece. At the moment, about 35% of the blue fuel in our country comes precisely from the Caspian Sea via Greece, the so-called "Southern Gas Corridor".
"There are also additional quantities that the state oil and gas company "Sokar" sells on the free gas market and they enter through Turkey," explained Malinov.
Such talks were held by the caretaker energy minister with his Azerbaijani counterpart during his visit to Baku this week. Then he was part of the delegation led by President Rumen Radev in the Azerbaijani capital.
"We have discussed a long-term agreement for Sokar and Turkey to sign for an additional possibility to transfer additional quantities of gas from the Caspian region. And we expect these quantities through our gas transmission network to reach the markets of Central and Eastern Europe and to increase the volume of quantities that "Sokar" to sell on the Bulgarian market", explained Malinov.
Malinov also explained that Bulgaria is also negotiating with South Korea for joint supplies of natural gas to both countries. For this purpose, during the week the minister met with the ambassador of the Asian country in Sofia.
"Large natural gas producers prefer to work with long-term contracts and large volumes, so it is much easier to negotiate when we are two countries. South Korea is among the countries that are the largest importers of liquefied natural gas," Malinov explained. this process.
A Korean company in particular is expected to build the new units of the Kozloduy NPP.