Romania, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia are to sign a new agreement on import of Azeri gas supply on April 25-26, at a conference in Sofia, said Bulgarian Minister of Energy, Rosen Hristov.
“At the end of the month in Sofia (April 25-26), a large-scale agreement is expected to be signed between several countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, on the expansion of the gas infrastructure. This will make it possible to supply gas from Azerbaijan through Bulgaria to Central Europe,” said Rosen Hristov during his visit to the Turkish terminal Marmara Ereglisi LNG, where the first tanker with liquefied natural gas was received, according to another previous agreement between Bulgargaz and the Turkish company Botas, BTA reported.
According to Minister Hristov, the agreement to be signed in Sofia will enable Bulgaria to supply liquefied gas from American and European sources to Central Europe again, Novinite reports.
“This agreement is of European importance. Of course, in parallel with this, we continue our cooperation with the Turkish side, according to the agreement we have,” Rosen Hristov also said.
The agreement between “Botas” and “Bulgargaz” was signed in Sofia on January 3 this year and has a term of 13 years. With it, the Bulgarian public supplier gained access to five terminals for liquefied natural gas and the gas transmission network of Turkey. It is planned that 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas will be transferred per year. The tanker that arrived in Turkey has a cargo of 50 million cubic meters.
“This agreement is extremely important for Bulgaria. In practice, today begins the practical implementation of the agreement that was reached between the presidents of Bulgaria and Turkey in December last year. Literally a few weeks later (on January 3) we signed the agreement and today we welcome the first tanker that we unload. In order to achieve energy security and supply diversification, it is very important to have both different sources of supply and different infrastructure, that is, different routes for the supply of this gas. With this agreement with Botas, in practice we are adding another gas delivery route that we are negotiating. The vessel that we are welcoming today is contracted by Bulgargaz with the American company Cheniere. What is agreed with the Turkish side is to use the unloading infrastructure, regasification, storage and delivery of the quantities to Bulgaria,” added the Minister of Energy.