The Minister of Energy: "Bulgargaz" has proposed to "Botash" to renegotiate and reduce the prices of the agreement for access to the LNG terminals

On July 4 of this year, Bulgargaz sent an official proposal to Botash to renegotiate the agreement. It is between the Bulgarian and Turkish sides for access to Turkish liquefied gas terminals and transfer of blue fuel to our country. A draft supplementary agreement is also attached to the proposal. This was said by the Acting Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov during a hearing in the Parliament. In his words, quoted by BTA, the project contains a proposal for an amendment that is in line with the current market levels of the services provided by "Botash" in the region in order to preserve financial stability, as well as part of the advantages of the agreement - namely for ensuring security and diversification of supplies.

The official energy minister specified that the proposal of "Bulgargaz" to "Botash" foresees optimization of the reserved capacity, reduction of prices for the paid service, structuring of the pricing of permanent and variable payment components, the possibility of unilateral termination of the agreement by "Bulgargaz", as well as the transfer of rights to third parties in full. By the end of July, Malinov hopes to complete the process of renegotiation of the agreement.

In the letter, the Bulgarian public supplier "Bulgargaz" informed "Botash" that under the current financial conditions of the agreement, it is unable to continue fulfilling its financial commitments and this capacity, which is reserved. For this reason, the payments due for July have not been made, added the Acting Minister of Energy. He pointed out that more than 2 million megawatt hours of natural gas, owned by Bulgargaz, are currently stored in Turkey. By July, the Bulgarian public supplier has paid the agreed capacity, according to the agreement. For June, BGN 12 million less was paid, according to a discount made by the Turkish company, while for July, the Bulgarian company did not pay anything due to impossibility.

The official minister of energy will provide in the secret office of the parliament all the parameters of the proposal that was made by "Bulgargaz" to "Botash" and the deputies will have the opportunity to receive information about the financial and economic conditions that are proposed in it. Malinov expressed readiness to discuss the proposal with the people's representatives.

Immediately after the entry of Bulgargaz's proposal with the draft additional agreement to Botash, the Bulgarian Acting Minister of Energy sent an official letter to his Turkish counterpart to speed up the renegotiation process, in which Malinov expressed his desire to complete it until the end of July.

We remind you that the agreement with "Botash" was negotiated at a time when our country did not have many opportunities to access blue fuel. This was also the time of high energy prices throughout Europe. Some politicians even expressed considerations that through the agreement with "Botash" Turkey is given access to the European gas transmission infrastructure.