Turkey so far shows no readiness to terminate the agreement between BOTAS and Bulgargaz, which is pushing the Bulgarian state gas operator towards insolvency. This became clear on Saturday after the meeting between Bulgarian Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov and his Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar in Istanbul.
“Bulgaria and Turkey will continue their joint cooperation to ensure the diversification and security of energy supplies,” the energy ministry announced after the meeting.
The talks took place at the initiative of the Bulgarian side in connection with the decision of the Parliament, which assigned the Minister of Energy to seek renegotiation of the gas deal.
“In this regard, the Bulgarian side expressed a desire to revise the contract, and the Turkish side expressed understanding and willingness to continue cooperation. The energy ministers instructed the management of the two companies to start active work in connection with the agreement between “Bulgargaz” and “Botash”, according to the announcement after Saturday’s meeting in Istanbul.
The Bulgarian authorities have been trying for more than half a year to reach a renegotiation of the agreement, but unsuccessfully.
The contract between Bulgargaz and BOTASH is for the reservation of capacity of 1.85 billion cubic meters per year from Turkish liquefied gas terminals and to the Bulgarian border through the pipes of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline. According to the contract, until 2035, “Bulgargaz” can unload tankers at certain LNG terminals in Turkey and receive the same amount of natural gas at the Strandja-Malkochlar border crossing.
The parliamentary commission that checked the agreement declared that it was completely unprofitable for the Bulgarian side and sent it to the Bulgarian and European prosecutor’s office.
The agreement was concluded during the interim government of Rumen Radev with the justification that this way Bulgaria would ensure the independence of its gas supplies, and “Bulgargaz” could become a major regional player on the gas market.
However, the parliamentary report came to the conclusion that the Bulgarian company pays nearly half a million dollars every day to BOTASH, but does not actually use the agreed capacity. This means that the state-owned gas company loses hundreds of millions a year. In two years, the expenses of “Bulrgargaz” under the agreement will be close to 300 million dollars, and the company does not generate income from this.
The contract was signed on January 3, 2023 in Sofia by the executive director of “Bulgargaz” Denitsa Zlateva and the head of the Turkish state energy company BOTAS (BOTAS) Burhan Yozcan in the presence of the energy ministers of the two countries Rosen Hristov and Fatih Dönmez.
In October 2023, the Directorate General “Competition” of the European Commission began an inspection of the agreements for the supply of gas from “BOTASH” and the reservation of capacity on the Turkish-Bulgarian border.
Brussels also requested information on the contracts concluded or in the process of negotiation, under which “Bulgargaz” can act as an exclusive representative or distributor for the supply of gas in Bulgaria or elsewhere in the EU.
The reason for the investigation is the suspicion that Bulgargaz may be the only company in the EU that has access to natural gas through the Turkish infrastructure and acts as an intermediary for Russian gas secured in Turkey and delivered to the region.
