Price of natural gas in Bulgaria will be lower from November 1

Instead of the expected increase, the price of natural gas for November will be BGN 93.19, compared to the price for October, which was BGN 94.54, Bulgaria’s caretaker Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Galab Donev, said on November 1 at a joint briefing in the Council of Ministers with the caretaker Minister of Energy, Andrey Zhivkov, the Chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, Ivan Ivanov and the Executive Director of the public gas supplier, Bulgargaz, Nikolay Pavlov.

Bulgaria has one of the lowest natural gas prices in Europe, added Galab Donev, which brought reassurance to household consumers of both natural gas and heating.

From November, the price was expected to increase by 32% compared to October.

The chairman of the energy regulator, Ivan Ivanov, also commented on the significance of the price reduction. According to him, the new price is 33% lower than October 11th Bulgargaz application for a price rise. This is extremely important for the Bulgarian district heating companies, which use natural gas as an energy source. An increase would have catastrophic consequences for the companies, especially for Sofia District Heating, Ivanov explained.

The price for Bulgarian consumers in November will be twice as low as the price at which natural gas will be sold to European gas hubs, Ivanov added.

He announced that with these prices, Bulgaria, through Bulgargaz and the successful agreements with Gazprom Export, saves about $ 40 million for the country's gas consumers.