Energy economics

The governing board of the International Energy Agency has re-elected Fatih Birol as executive director for a second term.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will hike the retail price of fuel as of February 1, the first increase of this year.

A new Excise Law, adopted in mid-December, after almost a year of the negotiations, long debates in parliament and amid resistance from opposition parties, came into force at the beginning of January.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has said in response to growing demand for green energy it is providing an $85 million loan to the Industry Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) to finance private mid-cap companies investing in renewable energy and resource efficiency projects in Turkey.

Turkey should benefit as much as possible from a more diversified global natural gas market, as the United States, Canada and Australia have become major players in liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

European Union environment and energy ministers on Dec. 18 agreed renewable energy targets for 2030 ahead of negotiations next year with the European Parliament, which has called for more ambitious green energy goals.

The World Bank will stop funding for exploration and extraction of oil and gas by 2019, the financial institution at the climate summit announced on Tuesday aimed at boosting the transition of the global economy to cleaner energy, reports BNT. 

Nearly a 3% increase in gas prices for the domestic market as of January 1, 2018, offers the state gas supplier Bulgargaz of the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation. The current prices are BGN 343.36 per 1000 cubic meters or BGN 32.27 per MWh. Tariffs are two - for quantity and energy, because of the requirements of the European Commission.

In the area of ​​the Ukrainian city Chernobyl abandoned due to a nuclear accident, electricity will be produced again. A project to build a solar park in the radioactive area is expected to receive green light from the Ukrainian authorities next month, Profit.bg reported, referring to Bloomberg.

The leftist Greek government has clashed with the country’s energy providers over the continuation of a special levy (ELAPE) imposed in order to balance the renewable energy sources account, which is a bailout obligation.

From November 24, Bolivia will hold a fourth meeting of gas exporting countries that control 70 percent of global blue-fuel reserves, 40 percent of gas pipelines and 65 percent of global LNG trades, reports TASS.

The Forum of Exporters of Gas is an international, intergovernmental organization established in 2008.