Monday, October 2, 2023
 
 

Fearing Russian Gas Cuts, Bulgaria Goes Underground

Wants Energy Dependence Pact With Greece, Romania, Turkey, Serbia

- Advertisement -

Bulgaria is expanding an underground gas storage site to guard against any gas supply cuts from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. The expansion is expected to nearly double the capacity of the storage from 550 million cubic metres to one billion cubic metres of gas.

Bulgaria plans to almost double the capacity of the Chiren storage at a total cost of more than €200 million in a part EU-funded project, aimed at boosting the Balkans’ energy security.

“The doubling of Chiren’s capacity is linked to the persistent ambition of Bulgaria to have Europe and its neighbours to support its wish to establish a ‘European gas hub’ in Bulgaria,” Peter Poptchev, a long-time Bulgarian ambassador-at-large for energy security, told New Europe on October 22, adding that any claim to be able to establish a regional gas hub should rely on at least one billion cubic metre underground storage facility. “The value of an enlarged storage for national energy security and gas security of supply is undeniable,” Poptchev noted.

The Bulgarian government has said it is working with neighbours Greece, Romania, Turkey and Serbia to ensure in future the country is no longer completely reliant on Russian gas.

Poptchev said the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) is potentially growing in importance in regard to all this because the gas hub in Bulgaria “cannot be fed on Russian gas only – regardless whether through Ukraine, or through a revived, reduced South Stream”.

Gas conflicts between Russia and Ukraine in 2006 and 2009 led Russia to push for the South Stream, and now the Turkish Stream, bypassing Ukraine. The EU is also pushing with its own diversifications efforts, striving to reduce its reliance on Gazprom.

The potential gas hub in Bulgaria has to have access to large volumes of alternative gas. The development of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field is expected to lead to the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will see gas piped through the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to Europe. TAP can easily connect to the IGB when the pipe is ready.

Moreover, Poptchev said the dispatch Eastern Mediterranean gas from Cyprus and Israel is could be “accelerated” to Europe for commercial reasons – to preempt exports from Egypt’s giant Zohr field.

At the official ceremony in Vratsa on October 20 launching a new exploitation drill, which is expected to set the start of a process of modernisation of Bulgaria’s Chiren gas depot, the country’s energy minister, Temenuzhka Petkova, referred to another gas project on Bulgaria’s territory – the Romania-Bulgaria Interconnector. “I very much hope we will be able congratulate one another at the beginning of next year on the first interconnector of our country that will be between Bulgaria and Romania,” Petkova noted.

She said gas transmission along the interconnector would begin the moment it is ready. She said Bulgaria is holding negotiations with Romania and the latter has committed to building a compressor station on its territory. Petkova said Bucharest has included this compressor station in Romanian Transgaz investment plan, so “I hope it will become a fact. This will give us the opportunity for a reverse [flow] connection, which is highly important for this project”.

follow on twitter @energyinsider

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Co-founder / Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media

Latest

Iran protesters mark anniversary of “Bloody Friday”

Residents in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and...

US announces Israel’s acceptance into the Visa Waiver Program

Israeli citizens will be allowed visa-free entry into the...

UN General Assembly 2023: More progress urgently needed on Sustainable Development Goals

The 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicked off...

Don't miss

Iran protesters mark anniversary of “Bloody Friday”

Residents in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and...

US announces Israel’s acceptance into the Visa Waiver Program

Israeli citizens will be allowed visa-free entry into the...

UN General Assembly 2023: More progress urgently needed on Sustainable Development Goals

The 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicked off...

Europe’s lawmakers see opportunity for regime change a year after Iran’s latest uprising

On September 21, representatives of various political groups held...

Interest surges in Turkmen gas

Turkmenistan's huge gas reserves have been generating considerable interest from potential importers following Ashgabat's announcement in late July that it is open to the development...

European aviation industry embraces new jet fuel regulation

The European Parliament on September 13 approved a new law to increase the uptake of sustainable fuels, such as advanced biofuels or hydrogen, in...

With Armenia defeated tensions between Yerevan and Russia reach a turning point

Relations between Armenia and its traditional strategic partner Russia are deteriorating fast. With Yerevan's fundamental defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh - the 30-year-old Moscow-backed separatist region...

Nairobi Declaration calls for global tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport, aviation

As the curtains came down at the Africa Climate Summit (ACS23), heads of state and government adopted the Nairobi Declaration, calling on world leaders...

Mongolia to expand its economic and trade partnerships

Mongolia, the landlocked mineral-rich country bordered by Russia and China - the world's two preeminent authoritarian-run nations, is looking to expand its economic, trade,...

Zelensky Athens visit eclipses Mitsotakis’ informal Western Balkans Summit

Receiving a full house of Western Balkan leaders, as well as several EU luminaries, in Athens on an evening when much of northern Greece...

Turkmenistan signals major change in energy-export stance

A big shift is brewing for Caspian Basin energy exports. In a diplomatic about-face, Turkmenistan has signaled its readiness to develop a Trans-Caspian pipeline...

Can Central Asia escape China’s debt trap?

While Washington focuses on the war in Ukraine, Russia and China seek to expand their influence in regions where the US is not sufficiently...