The reason for decrease in gas prices is the fall in global oil prices, as well as hub gas prices in Europe in the last 20 days. Nikolay Pavlov, CEO of state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz, said during a public discussion on natural gas prices at KEVR that prices could go down by 2-3% more than the April forecast of 40 %.
Pavlov explained that taking into account the dynamics of the oil markets and the decline in the price at European gas hubs, if Bulgargaz made calculations today and suggested the price to KEVR, it would certainly be lower than the one previously submitted. And that will be to the benefit of the market and the consumers of natural gas in the country.
Earlier this month, Bulgargaz proposed a decrease in wholesale natural gas price of 40.49 % for April. In addition, the company proposed further cut of 0.8 % for May. The company proposed to KEVR that the price of natural gas for April 2020 should be about 13.4 euros/MWh, excluding VAT and excise duty. Bulgarian Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR) proposed to reduce heating and hot water prices by between 8 and 25 % in different cities as of April 1. KEVR’s proposal is to reduce the price of thermal energy in Sofia by 25.14 %, by 14.8 % in Plovdiv, by 16.4 % in Burgas, by 7.8 % in Varna, by 21.3 % Vratsa, by 16.6 % in Veliko Tarnovo and by 16 % in Razgrad. The proposed reduction is the result of changes in the terms of the contract with the Russian company Gazprom Export, which in early March agreed to reduce the price of gas for Bulgaria by 40.3 %. The change came into effect retroactively as of 5 August 2019. However, the Energy Law has not yet been amended and this does not allow KEVR to set retroactive prices.
