Sofia/Moscow (energate) - As of 27 April, Gazprom will no longer supply gas to Bulgaria. It had already become known that the Russian company was stopping gas deliveries to Poland. Now the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy has also announced that the country will no longer receive Russian gas, German media report unanimously. The background is probably that the two countries refuse to pay for their gas supplies in roubles. About 90 per cent of Bulgaria's gas comes from Russia, the rest largely from domestic sources. The Bulgarian government tried to reassure that gas supplies to customers were secure for the time being.
In addition, the country hopes that the interconnector to Greece, which is currently under construction, will soon be completed, according to media reports. Construction of the pipeline began in 2019 and is to be connected to the
Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is scheduled to go into operation in 2021. This transports natural gas from Azerbaijan through Turkey, Greece and Albania to Italy and thus provides access to natural gas from the Caspian Sea. This connection could cover one third of Bulgaria's gas demand.
Bulgarian electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants, which often also provide heat, as well as by a nuclear power plant with two reactors and several hydropower plants. In recent years, solar and wind power plants have also been increasingly installed in the country with 6.5 million inhabitants. /sd
