Bulgaria reduced its natural gas consumption by almost a quarter in the last six months, the European Commission announced, Novinite reports.

The community executive proposed on Monday the extension by one year, until March 2024, of the voluntary reduction in gas demand by 15%, which the member states have been applying since last summer as an emergency measure in the context of the energy crisis. Brussels believes that, if it continues with the attempt to reduce gas consumption by an average of 15% compared to normal levels, this will help both to guarantee energy security and to reduce price volatility, according to Agerpres.

Between August 2022 and January 2023, natural gas consumption in Bulgaria decreased by 23.9% compared to the average level of the last five years. The biggest economy was recorded in October (a decline in consumption of 32.7%) and January (-29.4%).

The only month when Sofia deviated from the voluntary 15% reduction in natural gas consumption measures introduced by the EU was in August (a 14.9% decline in consumption).

Between August 2022 and January 2023, the biggest reductions in natural gas consumption were in Finland (58.5%), Lithuania (40.5%) and Sweden (40.2%). Conversely, five countries did not reach the European target of 15%: Ireland (0.3%), Slovakia (4.6%), Malta (12.1%), Spain (13.7%) and Slovenia (14, 2%).

In general, at EU level, gas demand decreased by 19% between August 2022 and January 2023, or by 41.5 billion cubic meters, compared to the average level of the last five years.