The Ministry of Economy and Energy is carefully monitoring natural gas deliveries in the country
“We are carefully monitoring the natural gas deliveries in the country and currently there are no grounds for concern” caretaker Minister of Economy and Energy Vasil Shtonov said a press-conference after a meeting of the Council of Ministers. The pressure at the Bulgarian gas transmission system’s entry point must be at least 38 bar, and in the last few days operational data shows that it has been fluctuating between 30 and 35 bar.
According to Minister Shtonov, Bulgaria has not received official information on reducing natural gas supply. “We believe that the lower pressure is due to a problem of technological nature, which we expect to be resolved”, the Energy Minister said. Reducing the pressure at the Bulgarian gas transmission system’s entry point leads a 100% failure of gas deliveries to Bulgaria. “Currently this is offset by extraction of natural gas from the field in UGS Chiren”, Minister Shtonov said. He stressed that 2.5 million m3 of gas had been extracted from UGS Chiren in order to ensure the stability of the gas transmission system of the country. According to the Energy Minister, daily consumption in the coldest months was expected to be between 10 and 11 million m3 of gas, and was currently raging between 7 and 8 million m3.
Minister Shtonov outlined the options to deal with a possible crisis situation. According to him, if the maximum daily capacity of 4.1 million m3 of gas in UGS Chiren was exceeded, the government would move to the first step of the developed crisis plan, which envisages heating plants to switch from gas to fuel oil. “The probability of this happening is very small. The Crisis Headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Energy are closely monitoring the situation constantly and currently there is no reason to worry”, the Minister of Economy and Energy assured.