Bulgaria negotiates with Romania for natural gas supply after 2026

Bulgaria is negotiating with Romania for natural gas supplies after 2026, caretaker Energy Minister Rossen Hristov said after he was heard in the parliamentary energy committee on January 11.

In his words, a meeting in Baku is also scheduled for February 2 to discuss gas supplies from Azerbaijan. Currently, Bulgaria gets about 50% of its supplies from there.

The minister specified that there was no agreement with Turkey for the supply of blue fuel, but only for the passage through Turkish pipes of quantities agreed by Bulgaria.

"In case of technical lack of capacity of the Greek terminals we can use Turkish terminals," Rosen Hristov said.

He also commented on the possibility of renegotiating the Recovery and Resilience Plan so that the country does not close coal-fired plants.

According to him, a solution has been found for the plants to reduce their emissions without closing. Layoffs of people working at coal plants will be postponed.

"Territorial plans do not cover people who keep their jobs and continue to work. They are for the people who lose their jobs and some money has to be put in to re-train them," Rosen Hristov said.