Bulgaria Raises Q1 Gas Prices by 10.45%

Last month, state-run gas monopoly Bulgargaz sought a 17.02% hike in prices to 437.8 levs per 1,000 cubic metres, VAT excluded, which it said reflected the higher price of alternative fuels on international markets in recent months.

Bulgargaz plans to supply 1.013 billion cubic metres of gas, including 676.401 million cubic metres imported, in the first quarter of the year, the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) said in a statement.

Gas prices in Bulgaria are adjusted on a quarterly basis. Bulgaria, which imports from Russia almost all the gas it needs, replaced in 2006 its deal with Russia's Gazprom for the supply and transit of natural gas through 2010 with a new contract that the government in Sofia said envisaged a gradual rise in delivery prices until 2013 and an increase in transit volumes until 2030.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)