President of the Board of Directors of Bulgarian gas supplier Bulgargaz Ivan Topchiysky said that Bulgaria is still in talks with Russian Gazprom on the existing gas supply contract.
Topchiysky said that talks are underway with Gazprom even though supplies had been cut off and it is likely that the supply will be resumed. Bulgaria has valid contract until the end of the year and some terms of that contract could be changed in order to resume the supply.
Gazprom halted gas supplies to Bulgaria in late April, after the country refused to comply with Russia’s demands for payments in rubles.
Regarding the proposed gas price hike of 60 % for August, Topchiysky said that it is good that the increase will come in August, which has historically the lowest off-peak gas consumption. The levers that Bulgargaz can use in this situation are the cheaper gas in the Chiren gas storage facility and the upcoming start of the Bulgaria- Greece gas interconnector.
