The Bulgarian government decided on Thursday to compensate natural gas traders who helped fill the state-owned Chiren gas storage facility with 278 million leva (€142 million) after the sudden cut-off of Russian gas supplies in late April 2022.
This compensation package reflects the fact that the companies that helped supply the storage facility bought gas at very high prices at the time.
However, the compensation cannot be paid to the companies until the European Commission gives the go-ahead. While Bulgaria has started negotiations, it has not yet received Brussels’ approval.
The bulk of the state compensation will go to the state-owned company Bulgargas, which expects to receive almost €80 million.
The rest of the compensation money will be paid to smaller private companies, including Sustaining Energy SpA, owned by Russian Lukoil subsidiary Litasco and former Lukoil Bulgaria boss Valentin Zlatev, news website Mediapool reported.
Sustaining Energy SpA imports Russian natural gas into Bulgaria for the needs of the Burgas refinery Neftochim and has reserved capacity in the State gas storage facility.
The state gas storage facility in Chiren stores specific quantities of gas from the Greek company Mitilineos, which systematically supplies gas to the Bulgarian market through Bulgargas.
“The compensations are necessary because the companies have contributed to achieving the target of at least 80% repository occupancy in accordance with the European contingency plan by taking commercial risks,” the government said in its statement.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
