Bulgarian Energy Minister Rossen Hristov initiated to launch a study of the regional gas market at a bilateral meeting with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjartó at the P-TECC forum in Zagreb. The two ministers also discussed the transit of increased gas supplies from Azerbaijan.
The idea is for each country to provide information on how much natural gas it needs and its transmission capacity. “Based on this, we can easily decide where we need to build new gas interconnectors, increase capacity and improve the existing ones. Infrastructure is the key factor that determines diversification opportunities. We cannot talk about energy security without cooperation at a regional level,” reads the press statement of the Ministry of Energy of Bulgaria.
The Hungarian Minister confirmed Hungary’s participation in the gas market research initiative according to the Bulgarian ministry expressing and thanked Bulgaria for ensuring secure gas transit to Hungary.
“Bulgaria plays an increasingly important transit role in terms of Hungarian energy supply, last year, 4.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas arrived in Hungary via Bulgaria,” said the Hungarian minister revealing that the two countries are now working to ensure that the new gas supplies from Azerbaijan can also come through Bulgaria.
“Fortunately, this does not depend on our Bulgarian friends, they will provide the transit for the increased deliveries, so there should be no obstacle to the delivery of the first 100 million cubic metres of Azeri gas this year,” emphasised the Minister.
