Gazprom has suspended natural gas transit through Bulgaria for Turkey, Greece and Macedonia since the beginning of 2020, leading to a loss, the energy minister, Temenuzhka Petkova told BNT. “Bulgaria will lose US $ 110 million a year because of the suspension of natural gas transit through the country from the beginning of this year,” the minister said. According to her, the only option for compensation of the losses is the construction of Balkan Stream, which will be a continuation of the Turkish Stream project.
During the interview, she commented on the possible creation of a gas distribution center in Bulgaria – Balkan Gas Hub. According to her, there must be two conditions for the project to be completed. The first condition is that all the missing gas infrastructure connecting Bulgaria and the neighboring countries is built, and the second condition that she outlined is that the gas exchange begins to operate with different sources of natural gas.
Another topic that Minister Petkova commented was the EU Green Deal, which she described as a temporary decision to replace coal plants with natural gas plants. “Coal plants cannot be put out of service because they are linked to our energy security. We have made it clear to the European Union that we plan to have our plants operational by 2030 with a horizon of action by 2050,” the minister said.
Source: Publics.bg