Natural gas

Prime Minister Boyko Borsov and Serbian President Alexander Vucic inspected the construction of Balkan Stream by helicopter. The project is a priority for the Bulgarian government.

Azerbaijan's integrated drilling and oil services management company, SOCAR AQS, opened 40 wells to expand the storage capacity of the Salt Lake (Tuz Gölü) Natural Gas Storage Facility in central Anatolia, head of SOCAR AQS said on May 27.

Around $103 million will be invested for storage expansion at the Salt Lake facility, SOCAR AQS Director General Ramin Isayev told Anadolu Agency.

Greece and seven other European countries have urged the European Union to include natural gas in future funding, as the bloc's executive prepares to unveil its plan for a green economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Romania imported, in the first three months of 2020, 629,000 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) in usable natural gas, by 6.2 pct less (41,700 toe) than the similar period of 2019, according to data centralized by the National Institute for Statistics (INS).

Nearly half of Turkey's electricity production in April was generated by hydroelectric power plants, while the share of wind tribunes passed that of natural gas plants, according to data released by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry on May 2.

Electricity production decreased by 16.3 percent to 19.1 billion kilowatt-hours compared to April 2019.

Electricity generation at natural gas plants has decreased dramatically due to decline in demand, Electricity Producers Association head Cem Aşık said on April 23.

"We expect a decrease of 20 percent in demand this month. The decrease in demand will be 17 percent in May and 4 percent in June, according to our estimates," he said.

Turkey's energy regulator EPDK has announced new measures for natural gas and electricity bills for the next three months amid the coronavirus break.

Production of energy products

In January 2020 compared to December 2019 an increase is reported for the production of: • unleaded motor gasoline - by 1.4% to3149 thousand tonnes;
• natural gas - by 20.0% to 6 million m .

Turkey's Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) trade volume in spot natural gas market hit Monday a record high for 2020, EXIST data showed on March 31.

Natural gas price will drop by more than 40% as of April 1, i.e by 17 BGN per megawatt compared to the previous quarter. This became clear on March 26 after a public discussion at Bulgaria's energy regulator. The meeting discussed the proposed by Bulgargas new price of gas for the second quarter of the year.