Public gas supplier Bulgargaz said it launched an auction for additional quantities of natural gas to be delivered via existing pipelines over a 14-month period starting from November.
Bulgargaz is requesting offers for the delivery of no less than 3 million MWh of gas, give or take 5%, for the entire period until the end of December next year, it said in a press release. This is equivalent to some 284.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas.
The gas will be supplied to the Bulgarian virtual trading point (VTP) or existing entry points to the national gas grid.
Interested parties may not come from countries on which sanctions or any kinds of embargo are currently imposed and must be companies with a clear ownership structure, Bulgargaz said in a tender notice published on its website.
The offer price must take into account TTFfm, the mean difference between the daily buy and sell prices of the commodity on the Front Month index on the European TTF gas futures exchange. There must be a discount of at least 40 euro ($39.09) per MWh.
The deadline for bids is 10 p.m. local time on October 4, with the final five bidders to be shortlisted by the end of the following day. They will be expected to submit final offers by October 10, with Bulgargaz to select the successful suppliers on October 11.
The state supplier is prepared to pay in advance for maximum half of the natural gas to be secured under the auction.
The tender will be aimed at gas traders which have gas surpluses, notably from Greece and in part from Turkey, caretaker energy minister Rosen Hristov said earlier this week when he revealed the authorities' intention to call the tender.
Last week, Bulgargaz launched auctions for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for November, December and the winter months of 2023. It also kicked off the public procurement process for a long-term LNG delivery contract for the period 2024-2034.
Bulgaria will start receiving additional quantities of natural gas through the 3 billion bcm/year Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, which will be formally commissioned on October 1.
(SeeNews, September 30, 2022)
