Bulgaria and Turkey sign long-term gas deal

Bulgaria has found an alternative to its gas supply issue, a ramification of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Once heavily dependent on the Russian supply, deliveries to Bulgaria were cut off when the country refused to make its payments in rubles. In the aftermath, Bulgaria had made agreements to meet its gas needs with Greece and Azerbaijan.

On Tuesday, the country’s state-owned gas provider, Bulgargaz, signed an agreement with Turkey’s provider, Botas. The deal took place in the presence of the energy ministers of both countries.

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez noted that “the agreement is important for increasing the security of deliveries in the Balkan region.”

AP reports that under the new 13-year contract, the country will gain access to Turkey’s liquefied natural gas terminals, an infrastructure that is underdeveloped in Bulgaria.

The deal will allow Bulgaria to use Turkish terminals to unload and process the natural gas it buys elsewhere in the international market. Then, the Botas network will be used to transfer up to 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s interim Energy Minister Rossen Hristov commented on the deal saying, “With this agreement we are securing the opportunity to buy gas from all global producers and offload it in Turkey, which best suits Bulgaria logistically.”