December 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian public gas supplier Bulgargaz expects the wholesale natural gas price applicable for January 2024 to be 80.77 levs ($45.19/41.29 euro) per MWh, or 7.7% lower than the current monthly price approved by the utilities regulator at the start of December, an initial price request published on the regulator's website shows.
The current wholesale price of natural gas in Bulgaria stands at 87.50 levs per MWh, after the regulator approved a monthly increase of 6.5%.
In January, Bulgargaz expects to take deliveries of 888,790.925 MWh of natural gas via the the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, according to the document published by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) earlier this week. Based on calculations, this would equal some 83.45 million cubic metres.
Through the Greece-Bulgaria gas link, Bulgargaz imports Caspian gas from Azerbaijan, its price calculated solely based on the price of petrol. The gas mix for January will include unspecified quantities to be derived from the underground gas storage site Chiren.
The public supplier will also receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) under a contract with France's TotalEnergies Gas and Power, which will be delivered at terminals in Turkey under an agreement signed with Turkish peer Botas last year.
Bulgarian energy regulations require Bulgargaz to set the gas price on a monthly basis, in consideration of prices on the European TTF gas hub in the Netherlands. On the first of each month, the EWRC has the final say on the proposed wholesale price, at which the state-owned company sells natural gas to end-suppliers and customers directly connected to its transmission network.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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