Bulgaria utilities regulator cuts gas prices by 34% for October 2022
Bulgaria’s utilities regulator has approved a 34 per cent decrease in gas prices in the country for the month of October, setting the new price at 233.36 leva a MWh, excluding transportation costs, excise and value-added tax.
The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said on October 1 that the price cut was the result of “the very competitive price conditions for the long-term contract for delivery of natural gas from Azerbaijan.”
According to the regulator, with the start of commercial operations of the Greece-Bulgaria inter-connector gas pipeline on October 1, the commission was able to factor the full amount of gas under the Azeri contract.
Previously, Bulgaria was only using 30 per cent of the one billion cubic metres a year contracted from Azerbaijan, due to the limited capacity of its link-up to the Greek gas grid.
The Azeri gas price formula is tied to oil prices for the previous six months and is not dependent on the market price fluctuations on European gas hubs, EWRC said.
Additionally, state-owned gas trader Bulgargaz was able to source gas deliveries for the Balkan gas hub at “very good prices,” the regulator said.
The company will also receive a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo in October, meaning that it secured three separate sources of gas, as the regulator repeatedly urged it to do during the summer months.
(Photo: Marco Caliulo/sxc.hu)
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