Gas warmed up the market

Sergey Kondratiev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Kommersant FM radio station about the possible resumption of Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria.

The Ministry of Energy of Bulgaria announced negotiations with Gazprom on the resumption of fuel purchases. Sofia back in April refused to pay for gas under the scheme proposed by President Vladimir Putin, and Russia stopped deliveries. Now, according to the Minister of Energy of the Republic, Rosen Hristov, "Bulgarian business will not be able to cope with the high price of gas," and negotiations on a return to the contract with Gazprom are inevitable.

But fuel from a Russian company will not be cheap either, Sergey Kondratiev says:

“Bulgaria does not have to return to the contract with Gazprom. It can follow the example of Latvia, which continued to import gas after refusing to pay in rubles, using schemes with intermediaries for this. Bulgaria says that the price of gas is of primary importance for it, but here there may be fundamental difficulties.

Regardless of whether the payment will be made in rubles or euros, at current prices Sofia, even returning to the contract with Gazprom, is unlikely to get a price below €1.5-1.8 thousand per 1 thousand cubic meters. A significant part is determined by the cost on TTF. This will mean that the prices that Gazprom can offer under the previous contract will not be low.”