Bulgaria’s President blamed the "Petkov" Cabinet for the New Gas Price and Defended Talks with Gazprom

President Rumen Radev described as shocking the price of natural gas for September after returning from an official visit to the UAE. Yesterday, the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (EWRC) decided that it would rise the price by nearly 19% compared to August and make it BGN 353.21/Mwh. Asked to comment on a statement by acting Prime Minister Gulab Donev that the government's work will be judged by the price of gas, the president stated that the tasks of the acting government are to hold elections and control inflation.

Radev emphasized that the "huge jump" in the price was due to two liquefied gas tankers contracted in July, when the "Petkov" cabinet and the previous management of Bulgargaz were still in power. He added that the price of gas from them is almost twice as high as declared by businesses and consumers to be extremely bearable.

"Even mixing with Azeri gas cannot mitigate these shockingly high values," Radev said.

At the press conference at which the official authorities declared negotiations for supplies from Gazprom inevitable, Deputy Prime Minister Hristo Alexiev, who is also the head of the crisis energy staff, indicated that the marginal price for them is BGN 250/Mwh. In a written position previously, some of the employers' organizations, including the Confederation of Employers, the Association of Industrial Capital, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, indicated that it was achievable with supplies from the Russian company.

Bulgargaz did not disclose transactions for the two tankers in September. In May, during a visit to the US, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov contracted for two LNG tankers but the quantities were planned for June. According to data from "DESFA" - the Greek gas transmission...