Bulgaria starts receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan from December 31

From December 31 this year Bulgaria starts receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan. According to the signed contract of Bulgargaz with the Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR, 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be delivered to our country annually from the Shah Deniz 2 field for a period of 25 years.

"We guarantee that on January 1 next year we will have not only diversification, but also supplies of Azeri gas, which enters the territory of Bulgaria through Greece. On January 1, 2021, we will welcome the Azeri gas that so many generations of politicians have talked about with Azerbaijan. The government of United Patriots and GERB is working well and has given this opportunity for full diversification, "said Prime Minister Borissov at today's government meeting.

Minister Petkova noted the importance of the agreement with Azerbaijan. "This is an extremely important contract, which is related to the implementation of our priorities - the diversification of natural gas supplies. It will give us the opportunity from December 31 this year for Bulgaria to have a new, different source, "said Petkova.

Until the beginning of October next year, we will receive natural gas through a temporary possible delivery point - the "Kulata", which connects the TAP gas pipeline with the Greek gas transmission system. In the meantime, we continue to build the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection. It is the connection point between TAP and IGB - Komotini that will be the point of delivery of Azerbaijani gas after this transitional period of several months. The delay in building the interconnection is due to the pandemic of KOVID-19.

The deliveries will be made through the reversible gas connection Kulata - Sidirokastro, which was made as a matter of urgency after the gas crisis in 2009. Thus, in the coming months the direction of natural gas will be from south to north. According to the plan, the supplies of natural gas to our country from Azerbaijan will be 3 billion cubic meters per year. This is approximately the amount of natural gas consumption for all consumers in our country.