November 25 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria and around 15 other EU member states consider excessively high the latest EU proposal for a common ceiling on the price of natural gas put forward at a meeting of the European Council, caretaker energy minister Rosen Hristov said.
The proposed cap on the month-ahead benchmark price on the TTF gas hub should it exceed 275 euro per megawatt hour would not help if the natural gas price reaches critically high levels as it did in Bulgaria in August and September, Hristov said in a press release after the extraordinary council meeting in the transport, telecommunications and energy format on Thursday.
In August, the wholesale gas price in Bulgaria jumped 60% month-on-month to 297.89 levs ($158.74/152.30 euro) per MWh, with a further 19% rise approved in September, to 353.63 levs per MWh.
"It is necessary to work towards a dynamic, non-fixed ceiling which will be tied to the global exchanges, so that European prices are at the same level as all the others", Hristov noted. According to him, this kind of measure will grant some control over the prices of natural gas and will not allow the implementation of a market price that is too low to push away suppliers and cause shortages.
Bulgaria would rather insist on a price cap of 250 euro per MWh, public radio BNR quoted Hristov as saying. He reportedly added that Greece, Romania and Belgium were among EU members that also disagreed with the Council's proposal.
"The Council will now analyse the proposal for a market correction mechanism and seek a political agreement as soon as possible," the EU institution said in a statement on its website.
The EU Commission first proposed temporary unified measures on gas pricing to tackle the energy crisis last month, submitting the legal text two days before the EU Council meeting.
"I want to recall that we were given a very specific mandate by the European Council in the end of October: to propose a temporary measure to limit the episodes of excessive gas prices without risking our security of supply, intra-EU gas flows, demand reduction efforts or financial stability. What we have proposed has to be seen in that precise context," EU commissioner for energy Kadri Simson said in a separate statement.
Agreement was broadly reached on Thursday, but the measures are yet to be formally adopted, with another extraordinary meeting of energy ministers called on December 13.
EU states also agreed in principle on the framework of coordinating gas purchases and of solidarity measures to share gas reserves across borders with fellow member states experiencing critical shortages. In addition, steps were taken to establish rules on a temporary framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)