Gazprom

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said on Tuesday that Moldova is currently engaged in intensive negotiations with Russian state company Gazprom on extending its gas supply contract, but is looking at several gas supply possibilities in other European countries as well.

Gazprom has initiated natural gas supplies to Hungary and Croatia over the new route using the TurkStream gas pipeline, the Russian gas holding said on Friday.

"Bulgargaz" asked the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission to increase the price of gas for October by a shocking 36.2% compared to the previous month. This is extremely surprising, because the previous request was for a jump of "barely" 16%. The nominal expression of the requested increase means that a megawatt-hour will cost a little over BGN 94.

The gas price in Europe yet again break historic record during the September 30 trading session and rose over $1100 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to the ICE data on Thursday morning.

Russia's state-controlled energy giant Gazprom signed a new 15-year natural gas supply deal with Hungary in a move sharply criticized by Ukraine, the company announced on Sept. 27.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday (21 September) Russia could do more to help alleviate gas supply issues in Europe which have driven prices up to record highs over the past month.

The comments come after a group of European Parliament lawmakers last week asked the European Commission to investigate Gazprom's role in soaring European gas prices.

The world is in a state of "gas war", sharp rises in industrial electricity prices are expected, and the situation will not improve soon.

This was said by the energy expert Vasko Nachev in tv interview on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria.

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) decided to increase the price of natural gas backdating it from April 1.

New price will be to 33.19 BGN per megawatt-hour (excluding excise, VAT, storage and transmission fees), which means that the price is increased by almost 16 percent.

Projections suggest Montenegro might have enough oil and gas out at sea to cover its own needs. It signed a concession contract in 2016 and officials say the first exploratory drilling might take up to six months.

But local residents and environmental activists are worried.

"There is no vision," said Natasa Kovacevic of the NGO Green Home.

The US State Department expressed its strong opposition to the Turkish-Russian TurkStream gas pipeline saying that together with the Nord Stream 2 they undermine the European energy security and serve only the Russian interests.