Page 13 - GLNG Week 19 2022

GLNG EUROPE GLNG

US to deliver cheap LNG to

Bulgaria from June

POLICY THE US will deliver liquified natural gas (LNG) market prices,” Petkov said.
to Bulgaria at a lower cost compared to that of The government was accused by Radev and
Russian Gazprom starting from June, the gov- the former ruling Gerb party of wanting to
ernment said in a statement on May 11. include intermediaries in the gas supplies.
At the end of April, Gazprom stopped deliv- According to Capital news outlet, Petkov
ering natural gas to Bulgaria, after the country most likely agreed direct deals between Bulgar-
refused to pay for it in rubles. The move sparked gaz and US LNG producers at prices of the US
criticism of the government from the opposi- Henry Hub. In that case, the LNG price would be
tion and President Rumen Radev, who claimed around €21-€22 per MWh versus €95/MWh in
that deliveries from other suppliers will fuel the Europe and €80/MWh under the contract with
already high inflation. Gazprom.
At a meeting with US Vice-President Kamala Radev commented that any attempt at diver-
Harris, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Kiril Petkov sification of gas supplies must be supported, but
secured an agreement on the deliveries. was cautious regarding the agreement with the
For June, Petkov has already agreed with the US.
US on the delivery of two tankers with LNG at a “I cannot comment on this deal before I have
price slightly below that of Gazprom. The prime its exact parameters but it is important that the
minister said, as quoted by Dnevnik news outlet, government looks for the most beneficial con-
that for the months after June the price will be ditions for Bulgaria. This concerns not only the
significantly lower but declined to disclose the price but also the sustainability of supplies, as
prices. well as opportunity for the Bulgarian business,
Petkov, who is on an official visit to the US, the heating plants and consumers to project their
also said that the agreed deliveries are not part costs,” Radev said as quoted by Dnevnik.
of a supply to the EU but are specifically for Petkov’s government has said it can become
Bulgaria. completely independent from Russia in terms of
“Everyone realises that all options must be energy as of 2023 and that it will not start talks
used so that the Bulgarian population feels calm with Gazprom on a new contract after the exist-
and secure,” Petkov said. ing one expires at end-2022. It has also refused
The LNG will be delivered by ship via termi- to pay in rubles, saying that this would not be
nals in Greece or Turkey. beneficial for Bulgaria.
“The contract will be directly between the On the other hand, the government has
[unnamed] US company and [Bulgarian state- indicated it might veto the EU’s planned ban on
owned] Bulgargaz, there will be no intermedi- imports of Russian oil if not granted a two-year
ators. Although the gas price in Europe is very exemption.™
high, we have agreed a price well below the

Week 19 13•May•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13