Bulgaria starts receiving Azerbaijani gas from December 31

From December 31 this year, Bulgaria starts receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan.

According to the signed contract of Bulgargaz with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, SOCAR, 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas will be delivered to Bulgaria annually from the Shah Deniz 2 gas field for a period of 25 years.

"We guarantee that on January 1 next year we will have not only diversification, but also supplies of Azeri gas, which enters the territory of Bulgaria through Greece. On January 1, 2021 we will have the delivery of the Azeri gas, which so many generations of politicians talked about with Azerbaijan. The coalition government of United Patriots and GERB is working well and has given this opportunity for full diversification," Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said at a government meeting on December 22.

Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova noted the importance of the agreement with Azerbaijan.

"This is an extremely important agreement, which is related to the implementation of our priorities - the diversification of natural gas supplies. It will give us the opportunity from December 31 this year for Bulgaria to have a new, different source," she said.

Until the beginning of October next year, we will receive natural gas through a temporary possible delivery point – “Kulata", which connects the TAP gas pipeline with the Greek gas transmission system.

In the meantime, we continue to build the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection. It is the connection point between TAP and IGB - Komotini that will be the point of delivery of Azerbaijani gas after this transitional period of several months. The delay in building the interconnection is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.