Gazprom

The caretaker government does not intend to negotiate a new short-term, medium-term or long-term contract with Gazprom, but only to obtain quantities under the existing contract.

The price of natural gas on the Dutch exchange TTF reached 341 euros per megawatt hour yesterday, and electricity supply contracts in Germany and France broke all records. Against this background, the Czech Presidency of the European Union announced that it is preparing an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers.

If "We Continue the Change" gets a chance to form a government after the elections on October 2, either Asen Vassilev or Kiril Petkov will be nominated as prime minister.

This was announced by the two in a joint interview with BNT. "We will decide together after the elections," said Kiril Petkov.

The price of electricity in Europe jumped by more than 25%, according to the prices of the European Electricity Exchange, Bloomberg reports. That's about 14 times the seasonal average over the past five years. The increase in prices is due to the concerns related to the shutdown of the Nord Stream.

The leader of GERB and ex-Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov, accused former PM Kiril Petkov and former deputy PM Asen Vassilev of deliberate actions and sabotaging the supplies of American liquefied gas in Bulgaria.

According to Borissov, Petkov's office did not sign the contract and did not reserve a delivery point for unloading the tankers.

"'Democratic Bulgaria' is categorically against the return of 'Gazprom' as a gas supplier to Bulgaria and demands a clear position on the actions of the caretaker government from all political forces that define themselves as professing Euro-Atlantic values.

Ukraine has offered to provide its gas transmission network for the delivery of Russian gas to Europe after Nord Stream 1 has been failing so much lately and constantly having to shut down the gas on it.

"Gazprom" announced that it will stop the gas on this pipeline again for a technical inspection from August 31 to September 2.

"Perhaps the negotiations with Gazprom are immoral and unpleasant, most likely Russia is not a reliable long-term partner, but we will continue our trade relations".

This was stated to BNT by the Deputy Prime Minister for the management of European funds, Atanas Pekanov.

A worker works at the construction site of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline near the village of Kamenovo, Bulgaria, 01 June 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

"This is inevitable and these negotiations will be hard," Hristov told local media, saying that Bulgaria will have no gas resources after September.

"Things with the interconnector to Greece are under control, the whole country has been mobilized. A lot of time has been wasted, in which nothing has really been done," said at a briefing Hristo Alexiev, Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications, Chairman of the Crisis Staff.