Bulgaria, Country will not hold talks with Russian gas company Gazprom on new gas supply contract

Bulgarian Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov said that Bulgaria will not hold talks with Russian gas company Gazprom on new gas supply contract due to tense situation over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Minister Nikolov said that negotiations can start in the second half of the year, but only provided the war has ended by that time. Bulgaria’s current gas supply contract with Gazprom will expire at the end of 2022.

According to the Energy Minister, if the war ends, gas prices will be back to their normal levels and the nearly 40 % increase of wholesale gas price requested by Bulgargaz for May may be rejected. He added that the gas price surge has flattened appreciably over the last week.

He said that, at the moment, there are no plans to compensate businesses for the high gas prices, arguing that gas consumption is not that large and electricity production is not that dependent on gas consumption. However, the Government may consider compensations for household heating bills for the next heating season.