Bulgaria has imported a quantity of liquefied natural gas at prices agreed before the escalation of the crisis in the Middle East, caretaker Energy Minister Traycho Traykov has informed caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov, the Energy Ministry said on March 4.
The deal is at levels significantly below current market values and makes possible predictability for the domestic market at a time when international natural gas and oil prices are sharply rising, the ministry said.
The unloading of the second cargo of liquefied natural gas for Bulgargaz for 2026 is now complete at the LNG terminal near Alexandroupolis.
The tanker, with 100 million cubic metres of gas for Bulgaria, was loaded at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal, a terminal owned by the American company Cheniere Energy, and supplied by Shell.
The quantities currently being unloaded will cover the needs of Bulgargaz customers for the current month.
Since June 2022, Bulgargaz has made 22 direct deliveries of LNG to terminals in Greece and Turkiye. Of these, 17 originated in the US, and the rest came from countries such as Norway and Algeria, the Energy Ministry said.
In the context of the special meeting of the caretaker government because of the crisis in the Gulf, Traykov emphasised to Gyurov that Bulgaria has a small but real buffer against market shocks.
While spot markets react sensitively to any news from the region, Bulgaria is currently making deliveries under already agreed terms – at price parameters from the pre-crisis period. The main source of stability is the long-term gas contract from Azerbaijan.
“The current delivery is the result of active work on diversification – this is the way to guarantee stability of supply and protect consumers from sudden price shocks,” Traykov said.
“We continue to monitor the dynamics of international markets and, together with state-owned energy companies, take measures to support the security and competitiveness of the sector and consumers,” he said.
(sofiaglobe.com, March 4, 2026)
