Bulgaria’s state-owned gas operator Bulgartransgaz, a subsidiary of Bulgargaz, and the Azerbaijan state gas company SOCAR are going to set up a joint venture, Energy Tribune reported.
This has been announced by Bulgaria’s Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Traicho Traikov.
Traikov received authorization by the Council of Ministers Wednesday to sign a cooperation memorandum for the setting up of the joint venture with the Energy Minister of Azerbaijan, who is going to be part of the delegation led by the Azerbaijan President visiting Sofia later this week.
The Bulgaria-Azerbaijan joint company is going to explore the possibilities for the delivery of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, including as both finding supplies for the quota of natural gas that Bulgaria will be entitled to receive through the Nabucco gas transit pipeline, and for the transit of compressed natural gas with tankers through the Black Sea.
If the project is realized, Bulgaria will not have to participate in the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal. As a result of the January 2009 Russia-Ukraine gas crisis, the Bulgarian authorities considered pushing for the setting up of such a terminal in Greece or Turkey in order to diversify the country’s gas supplies.
"Tankers for the transport of compressed gas cost more money but use cheaper infrastructure because they do not require the construction of a special terminal for the unloading of the fuel, which can be directly delivered to the country’s gas network or to be stored in a storage facility," Minister Traikov said Wednesday.
In his words, the Galata gas deposit which is under the concession of the UK company Melrose Resources, could be used as a storage facility. The government has initiated talks on that matter with the concessionaire
APA