Bulgaria sees a drop in Russian gas supply


AFP
SOFIA
Petroleumworld.com 01 25 06

Bulgaria's state-owned gas company Bulgargaz said Tuesday it had suffered a drop in its gas supplies from Russia in the past week following the spell of cold weather in eastern Europe.

"The harsh winter conditions in Europe are reflected in reduced gas supplies from Russia and an increase in domestic comsumption of natural gas," Bulgargaz's executive director Kiril Gegov told a press-conference Tuesday.

"Gas consumption in Bulgaria struck an absolute record yesterday (Monday) -- 15.9 million cubic meters per 24 hours. But we managed to maintain a stable delivery to our customers by using gas stored in our reservoir in Chiren in northern Bulgaria," Gegov said.

Bulgaria's domestic gas consumption of some 3.5 billion cubic meters in 2005 was 90 percent dependent on Russian gas.

Bulgaria recently refused demands by Russian state-controlled Gazprom to review its two contracts with the Russian giant signed in 1998 and to run until 2010.

Under one of the contracts, the Balkan country also transits Russian gas to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia.

Gegov refrained from commenting Tuesday when asked if there had been a drop in Gazprom deliveries transited through Bulgaria.

Bulgaria exported in 2005 some 15.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas or 14.6 percent more than last year, Bulgargaz data showed Tuesday.

Turkey received 84 percent of that amount or 12.98 billion cubic meters, which is 15.6 percent more gas than in 2004.

Supplies to Macedonia went up by 8.8 percent to 77 million cubic meters, and Greece received 9.7 percent more in 2005 or 2.4 billion cubic meters.

Bulgargaz has also stepped up efforts to launch a project to build a new pipeline for channeling gas from Iran and Azerbaijan through Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania, to Hungary and Austria.

The so-called Nabucco pipeline will be 3,300 kilometers long and have a maximum capacity to transport between 27 and 31 billion cubic meters of gas.

Construction is expected to begin in 2008 and the pipeline to be operational in 2011.

Five companies will take part in the project -- Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Turkey's Botas, Romania's Transgaz, Hungary's MOL, and Austia's OMV.

AFP 01/24/06

Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved

 

 

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