Azerbaijan ready to invest in Bulgaria’s gasification
Azerbaijan, via its state energy company SOCAR, is ready to engage in Bulgaria’s gasification at its own expense.
The statement was made by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of a visit by the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borissov to the central Asian country.
More than ten years ago, Bulgaria was the first EU country to commit to buy 1 billion cubic meeers of Azeri gas per year (bcm/y) as soon as the Southern Gas Corridor will come upstream, possibly in 2020. This represents roughly one third of Bulgaria’s annual consumption. So far Russia’s Gazprom has a de facto monopoly on Bulgaria’s gas supply.
Borissov commented in Baku, as quoted by Mediapool, that the agreed supply of 1 billion bcm/y would be the cheapest and that it would be used for social packages to the benefit of low-income households. This in his words would solve the issue of air pollution in Bulgaria.
Borissov recalled that only 3% of Bulgarian households have access to gas, while a main reason for the air pollution is the use of wood and coal for heating. He said Bulgaria should set itself the ambitious goal of replacing this with more ecologically sound energy sources. In his words, 90% of the territory of Georgia, a neighbour of Azerbaijan, has access to gas, adding that he hoped that Bulgaria would very soon reach a similar result.
