In April, Bulgaria plans to receive LNG from the US, while in March it buys Russian fuel from European traders.
Next month, Bulgaria is expecting several shipments of LNG from the US. At least according to the DESFA operator, the state company Bulgargaz has booked slots for two tankers at the Revitus terminal. On April 15 and 26, MOL Hestia and Global Energy vessels are to arrive in Greece and deliver a total of 143 million cubic meters of gas in the form of LNG.
According to the navigation portal Vesselfinder, Global Energy is only heading to the US from Europe, but MOL Hestia has already left the largest LNG terminal in the US, Sabine Pass.
At the end of February, Bulgargaz also announced a tender for the supply of non-Russian gas through Turkey. They planned to purchase 47 million cubic meters with delivery on April 15-20. However, the state-owned company has not yet announced any results.
Moreover, in March, according to ENTSOG data, Bulgaria continued to buy Russian gas from European traders. The country does not receive fuel directly, since Bulgargaz refused to switch to a new settlement mechanism and Gazprom stopped deliveries.
Thus, an average of 29.4 million cubic meters are supplied to the country from the Turkish Stream every day in March, but only 25 million cubic meters go to neighboring countries – Greece, Serbia, Romania and North Macedonia. 4.4 million remain in Bulgaria. In monthly terms, this is 136 million cubic meters, or the largest volumes that will enter the country in the first month of spring. Deliveries of Azerbaijani gas through the interconnector from Greece are stable and will amount to 124 million cubic meters per month.
Theoretically, the volumes of gas remaining in the country from the Turkish Stream can be swap supplies of Caspian gas. However, the Southern Gas Corridor and the interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria are not being used at full capacity. Also, the Greek DESFA does not indicate that LNG tankers for Bulgaria came to the country in March.
Earlier, purchases of Russian gas through intermediaries were confirmed by the Ministry of Energy of the country. Later, Bulgarian Energy Minister Rosen Hristov said that Sofia plans to receive 30% of gas from LNG terminals in Turkey, the same amount through Greece, and the rest from Azerbaijan, with which Bulgaria has a contract for 1 billion cubic meters per year. Gazprom supplied the country with about 3 billion cubic meters.
According to the Greek operator DESFA, in the annual plan for 2023, in addition to April deliveries, another LNG delivery for Bulgargaz is expected in October.
Source: EurAsia Daily
