Bulgarian government working towards gas purchase from Azerbaijan

Bulgaria is expected to receive the first gas supplies from Azerbaijan in the middle of 2022

"Bulgaria's government is working towards diversification of gas sources and receiving gas from Azerbaijan," said Lena Borislavova, head of Premier Kiril Petkov's office, Qazet.az informs, citing foreign media.

In her words, Bulgaria is expected to receive the first gas supplies from Azerbaijan in the middle of 2022.

"Bulgaria will not be left without heating this winter. The government has developed a detailed action plan", Lena Borislavova said for the BNR in response to the following question- how will Bulgaria act if the EU imposes sanctions against Russia and gas supplies are suspended?

In an interview last week, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov said that Azerbaijani gas could be imported to Bulgaria through the settlement of Nea Mesimvria, where the compressor station is located in Greece, until the construction of the IGB is completed.

"We have received a guarantee from Azerbaijan that this is technically possible. It is strange why this has not been done before," he said.

The IGB is designed to transport blue fuel from Shah Deniz 2 to Bulgaria. Through this pipeline, which will join TAP, Bulgaria will import 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from Azerbaijan. Thus, the state company Bulgargaz EAD has signed a contract with the Shah Deniz consortium to purchase this amount of gas from the Shah Deniz-2 field. Azerbaijan will be able to meet 25-30% of Bulgaria's gas needs. Construction work on the IGB is expected to be completed in the second half of next year.