Natural gas prices in Bulgaria will rise less than expected in January

Natural gas prices for Bulgarian consumers will increase less than initially forecasted by Bulgargaz. At the beginning of 2025, its price will go up by about 8%, instead of 10% - or up to 82 leva per MWh. This was announced at an open meeting of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (DKER) before the final decision on the gas price on January 1.

Bulgargaz CEO Veselin Sinabov explained that the lower rate was achieved due to the decrease in the TTF reference index. DKER Chairman Ivan Ivanov described this as good news.

He added that due to the expected suspension of natural gas supplies through Ukraine to several Eastern European countries, the index rose to 48.82 euros per MWh, but after an hour it fell to 47.60 euros per MWh. According to Ivanov, the expectation that Europe will be able to cope with this challenge prevails.

The chairman of the regulator was confident that there was no danger to the security of gas supplies to Bulgaria.

There should be no worries in the field of natural gas, our storage capacity is one of the most filled up in Europe," Sinabov confirmed. The Chiren gas storage has a slightly over 74% occupancy rate, while the EU average is 73.53%.

At the meeting, it became clear that Bulgaria is an important transit country for natural gas after the termination of the contract between Russia and Ukraine, as the first delivery of gas from the US to Ukraine, after unloading at the Revitoussa terminal (Greece), will then pass through Bulgarian territory.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov