Energy

The 2015 liberalization of Bulgaria's electricity market will increase the prices by 30-40%, if energy efficiency is not improved, warn experts. 

Gennady Timchenko, included in US list of sanctions over Ukraine, is to build Bulgaria's part of the South Stream.

The Russian official is reported to have a 63% share in Stroytransgaz, the company in charge of Bulgarian sector of the South Stream pipeline project.

Bulgarian Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev has rejected accusations that the current government is to blame for bringing the South Stream gas pipeline project to a standstill.

Significant amounts of natural gas could be extracted from Bulgaria's Khan Asparuh deep-water block, OMV believes.

Austrian energy company's expectations have so far been fomented by the discovering of vast amounts of gas at Neptun, a deep-water block in neighboring Romania situated next to Khan Asparuh.

The future of the South Stream pipeline is unclear and probably it will not be realized soon, said the head of the Italian company Eni, Paolo Scaroni. 

Eni is one of the key shareholders in the project and holds 20% of its shares. Eni is the largest Italian gas company and the main distributor of gas from Russia's Gazprom in Italy.  

A total of 4.56% price reduction of natural gas is expected as of April 1, Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation chair Boyan Boev announced.

It is not yet clear how the cuts will affect the consumer prices of heating and hot water.

Gas prices for industrial consumers in Romania will rise by a thumping 24 per cent as of next month, with a sharp impact likely on industry and jobs, experts say.

The move is part of a deregulation schedule agreed with international lenders including the International Monetary Fund, IMF and the World Bank.

By Chryssa Liaggou

Five embassies in Athens have already asked for the translation of a draft law on the break-up of Public Power Corporation, indicating an interest on behalf of investors in the so-called “Small PPC,” which is meant to rival Greece’s electricity giant once it is split into two.

State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation has approved a mechanism to compensate green energy producers.

The decision comes after a temporary pricing regime for their access to the country's energy grid was removed.

Crimean authorities took control of Ukraine's Black Sea and Sea of Azov oil and gas fields off the coast of the peninsula.

The speaker of Crimea's parliament Volodymyr Konstantinov told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the Russian companies including energy giant Gazprom should be involved in extracting the resources.