"Historic moment for Bulgaria": The Alexandroupolis terminal received its first gas delivery

The French energy company TotalEnergies Gas and Power Ltd. delivered the first cargo of liquefied natural gas as part of its contract with Bulgargaz EAD. This was possible because the gas terminal near Alexandroupolis, of which Bulgaria owns 20%, became operational on October 1. The Acting Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov and journalists from Bulgaria were at the site to welcome the first gas delivery.

Bulgargaz, the country’s public gas operator, has a contract with Total for the supply of 1 million MWh in the period October 2024 - February 2025, part of which will be included in the October mix, together with gas from Azerbaijan and the Chiren storage.

This is a historic moment for Bulgaria, quite emotional even, at least on a personal level, a historic moment for the entire region, because after the visionary decision we made a few years ago, today we are already getting the real diversification of natural gas for Bulgaria and for the entire region", Malinov said.

This is another energy source that should make Bulgaria more independent and its economy more peaceful and competitive.

The facility is impressive in terms of size, and technology, and even as we board the ‘Alexandroupolis’ ship, (we see) the first-ever delivery in this terminal's life taking place after it became operational on October 1. This first delivery is non-Russian gas coming from Norway", Malinov added.

Apart from Norway, the Alexanroupolis LNG terminal provides access to diversified supplies from reliable sources such as the USA, Qatar, Egypt and others. The facility will contribute to the successful implementation of Bulgaria’s priorities related to energy security and independence.

The facility has the capacity to store 153,500 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas and to regasify up to 5.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

In addition to Bulgaria, natural gas supplies to Greece, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Moldova, and Ukraine will also be made possible through the new terminal. Bulgargaz has a reserved unloading capacity of 1 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas at the facility.

The capacity of the facility for the first five years is almost completely exhausted, which is an eloquent proof of the interest shown in this type of supply", according to Minister Malinov.

"This is the first real step of the overall concept for the Vertical Gas Corridor, supported by our partners in the European Union and the USA", the Bulgarian energy minister pointed out, clarifying that this concept also includes the terminal in Revithoussa (Greece), construction of the overall pipeline infrastructure to Bulgaria and the region and expansion of the Chiren gas storage.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov