Bulgaria Assisting EU with Gazprom Probe

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said that his country is assisting the European Commission with its investigation into the competition practices of Gazprom.

In an interview with Euronews yesterday, the Prime Minister said that Bulgaria had been burned in the past by its reliance on Gazprom as a sole gas supplier and was willing to assist the EU in whatever way it could while it investigated the Russian supplier.

"Bulgaria was one of the EU countries most affected by the gas crisis...," he said. "We are assisting the European Commission with its investigation into Gazprom. Bulgargaz and Bulgartransgaz handed over all the relevant documents to the Commission a few months ago."

Because of this previous reliance on Gazprom for supply and the resultant energy shortages that occurred, the country has begun to diversify its supply, Minister Borisov said.

"We learned our lesson," he told the interviewer. "That’s why we have now built a gas pipeline interconnection with Romania. The interconnection with Greece is at a very advanced stage and will be completed in a month or two. Construction work on an interconnector with Turkey and a link to Serbia is about to start.

"However, the greatest source of energy diversification for Bulgaria is the oil and gas deposits in the Black Sea. “I am confident that Bulgaria will successfully diversify its energy supplies within three to four years."

Supply concerns continue to remain a reality for Bulgaria, especially as colder weather this winter continues to near. Earlier this week, head of corporate relations and licensing at Bulgargaz, Alexander Petrov, warned that the country's underground stored gas could hit very low levels coming into 2013. However, CEO of Bulgargaz, Dimitar Gogov, has said that there is no danger of gas shortages this winter, despite his colleague's comments.