Natural gas

''Power engineering should not be used for political purposes. The natural gas price in Bulgaria is fully determined by market factors.

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) will take a final decision on whether to increase the heat energy price at a closed-door meeting on April 7, according to BNR. EWRC Chair Ivan Ivanov told journalists on Tuesday. Before that he took part in an open meeting of the regulator.

European and Israeli governments gave their support on Monday to moving forward with a Mediterranean pipeline project to carry natural gas from Israel to Europe, setting a target date of 2025 for completion.

The planned 2,000-kilometer pipeline aims to link gas fields off the coasts of Israel and Cyprus with Greece and possibly Italy, at a cost of up to 6 billion euros.

Energy giant Qatar Petroleum is to launch a new project in the world's biggest gas field, boosting its output by up to 10 percent, it said on April 3.

The state-owned firm's chief Saad Al-Kaabi said it was ending a 12-year moratorium on new projects in the North Field, off the Gulf state's northern coast.

In January 2017 compared to December 2016, there was a decrease reported in the production of solid fuels - by 5.0% to 3,328 thousand T; of unleaded gasoline - by 8.3% to 165 thousand T; diesel fuel - by 6.9% to 256 thousand T; natural gas - by 20.0% to 12 million m3; electricity - by 10.8% to 4,056 GWh.

The household electricity price in Bulgaria will rise by nearly 1 per cent, effective April 1, 2017. The increase, varying by electricity distribution company, was discussed by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) meeting behind closed doors on Thursday, according to BNR.

Major international oil companies are seriously interested in the natural gas reserves estimated to be in Greece that could share similar characteristics, albeit on a smaller scale, with the giant reserve ENI has discovered off Egypt.

The head of the Hellenic Hydrocarbons Resource Management, Yiannis Basias, confirmed that interest at an event in Athens on Wednesday.

Bread prices will go up if the price of natural gas rises by 30% in April, warned the chairman of the Regional Union of Bread Producers in Burgas Dimitar Ludiev.

Over 60% of bread producers in the country depend on the price of the blue fuel. They are still not ready to react and have not drafted estimates.

Gazprom has vowed to let its clients renegotiate natural gas prices once they decide that these do not correspond to the average rates in Western Europe, European Commission Spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

Cyprus’s cabinet on Friday approved contracts with France’s Total, Italy’s Eni , Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum to explore for oil and gas in offshore areas south of the island, officials said.