"Bulgargaz" predicts: The price of natural gas will increase by about 8% from next month

The increase in the price of natural gas for November is mainly due to the larger quantities requested for the following month, according to the signed contracts of "Bulgargaz" and the end customers. In this way, the share of the quantities of natural gas under the contract with Azerbaijan decreases. This was said by the executive director of Bulgargaz, Veselin Sinabov, during today's open meeting at the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (EWRC), quoted by BTA.

During the meeting, the public supplier's proposal for a 7.49 percent increase in the price of blue fuel for the next month was discussed.

According to Sinabov, since the submission of the application until now, the index of the largest European gas exchange TTF has seen a significant growth. He pointed out that the price index for November was 11 percent higher than that for October.

"Despite this increase in the TTF in the last two weeks, we will not exceed the regulated price by 8 percent compared to the October one," said the executive director of Bulgargaz.

EWRC Chairman Ivan Ivanov commented that, albeit to a small extent, there will be an update of Bulgargaz's data as of November 1. He added that the increase in the price of blue fuel for the next month is due to reasons that do not depend on "Bulgargaz", EWRC, but also on Bulgaria as a whole, because they are related to the instability in the Middle East region. According to him, this is the reason why the price of the TTF index is increasing significantly. Despite this increase, which is more than 10 percent for the month, it is not fully reflected by "Bulgargaz". To a large extent, this is due to the supply of Azeri gas, the price of which is not related to that of natural gas, but to crude oil. On the other hand, it is not subject to one-month but three-month updating, added Ivanov.

The autumn-winter season is already starting, which increases the entire consumption of natural gas in the country and accordingly decreases the share of Azeri gas, added the chairman of EWRC. "The increase offered by the applicant "Bulgargaz" is indeed significantly less than the increase on the international gas exchanges, and especially on the one that is a reference for us - in the Netherlands," said Ivan Ivanov.

The Chairman of EWRC noted that for the first time the underground gas storage in Chiren was completely filled. This is a reason to believe that in case of some more drastic changes, Bulgaria has the resources to at least initially limit their negative impact.

Ivan Ivanov informed that EWRC will issue a decision on the price of natural gas for November at a closed meeting on November 1 at 3:00 p.m.