Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that Bulgaria has agreed with Russia's Gazprom on a 40% price cut for natural gas in a new contract.
"Our new contract with Gazprom on the price for natural gas the largest contraction among all the countries that are in negotiations – it exceeds 40%," he said on his Facebook page.
The negotiations have been long and difficult and were helped by the European Commission, head of state-owned gas company Bulgargaz Nikolai Pavlov said.
The new price will be valid as of August. Bulgaria imports 2.9 billion cubic metres per year from Russia under a long term contract valid through 2022.
Deputy director of energy policy of the Institute of Energy and Finances, Alexey Belogoriev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the discount for Bulgaria is one of the consequences of Gazprom’s settlement agreement with the European Commission on Antitrust Investigation, signed in May 2018.
Gazprom’s losses from such a change in the pricing scheme in Bulgaria will not be significant. "But Gazprom suffers loses in all national European markets, which will lead to a significant decrease in revenue this year . But if it does not reduce prices, Gazprom will simply lose its sales markets," Alexey Belogoryev said.
