Natural gas

Gas supplies from Russia to Italy, which broke off on Tuesday because of the accident at the Baumgarten Austrian gas distribution center, were resumed last night, Reuters reported.

Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) announced on Thursday the signing of a contract with Greek energy company Energean for the long-term supply of natural gas to the Israeli firm.

Energean agreed to supply up to 13 billion cubic meters of gas at a total consideration of up to $1.9 billion over a 15-year period.

In Greece, the country of three bailouts and "social dividends," electricity costs the same as it does in Sweden, where the per capita gross domestic product is two-and-a-half times higher, as Greek power bills increased this year due to tax hikes the government imposed on power consumption.

The deadline for the submission of binding offers for the 66 percent controlling stake in gas grid operator DESFA has been put off from December 22 to January 2018.

State sell-off fund TAIPED accepted a request to that effect submitted by candidate investors last week, as they want more time to prepare their offers.

An increase of 4.85% in the price of gas for the first quarter of next year is envisaged by the public provider Bulgargaz, the company said.
The estimated gas price for this period is 359.87 BGN / hm3 (excluding access, transit, excise and VAT) - an increase of 16.65 BGN / hm3 or 4.85% (an increase of 1.56 BGN ./MWh or 4.84%) compared to the price for the fourth quarter of 2017.

Shell's plans for disengagement from Attica Gas Corporation (EPA Attikis) are hampering the government in its negotiations with the country's creditors on the position of Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) in the natural gas retail market.

Electricity production in Bulgaria at the end of October shows a slower growth in consumption, according to ESO's operating data. It is evident that for the ten months of the year 32.2 million megawatts of electricity are consumed in the country, which is almost 5% more than in the same period of 2016.

Greek energy firm Energean said on Tuesday it signed three new deals to sell natural gas from the Karish and Tanin offshore fields to Israeli companies.

The deals were signed with Dorad Energy Ltd and two subsidiaries of the Edeltech Group, Ashdod Energy and Ramat Negev Energy.

Locals in northeastern Bulgaria who formed a civil initiative to stop natural gas extraction in General Toshevo municipality are staging a rally on Thursday against drilling plans in their region.

Cyprus is due to end its energy isolation after it agreed with fellow EU member Greece to press on with an undersea electricity cable, which will also link the island to Israel in the hope of tapping into significant gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.