April 24 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria has requested from the European Commission additional information on the commitments submitted by Russian gas giant Gazprom to address the Commission's competition concerns regarding gas markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the country's caretaker energy minister said on Monday.
"If we do not receive the necessary information in time, we will request an extension of the deadline as the information is insufficient," Nikolay Pavlov told a media briefing aired by public TV broadcaster BNT following a meeting between caretaker prime minister Ognyan Gerdzhikov and Boyko Borissov, leader of the centre-right GERB party which won the early general election last month.
The deadline by which all interested parties should submit their comments on Gazprom's commitments expires on May 4.
"We view positively the proposed commitments but want them to be expanded to allow us to to protect the interest of the companies and the state," Pavlov went on to say.
According to the energy minister, however, Gazprom's commitments contain many ambiguities and the Bulgarian companies have prepared questions to the European Commission which would be sent on Monday.
Gazprom is the dominant gas supplier to a number of Central and Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria. In April 2015, the Commission sent a statement of objections expressing its preliminary view that Gazprom had been breaking EU antitrust rules by pursuing an overall strategy to partition Central and Eastern European gas markets.
Last month the European Commission invited comments from all interested parties on the commitments submitted by Gazprom, noting that they would enable cross-border gas flows at competitive prices and help to better integrate gas markets in the region.
Gazprom's commitments ensure that restrictions to re-sell gas cross-border are removed once and for all and facilitating such cross-border flow of gas in Central and Eastern European gas markets; gas prices in Central and Eastern Europe reflect competitive price benchmarks; and Gazprom cannot act on any advantages concerning gas infrastructure, which it obtained from customers by having leveraged its market position in gas supply, the Commission also said back then.
Pavlov, however, noted that Gazprom's commitments are part of its existing contracts with state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz, gas transmission network operator Bulgartransgaz and the Bulgarian Energy Holding.
Under these contracts, for example, Bulgargaz is not banned from exporting natural gas, he pointed out, as quoted by the state-run news agency BTA. Regarding Gazprom's other commitment - which refers to not seeking damages for the dropped South Stream pipeline project, Pavlov said that Bulgaria and Gazprom settled the issue in 2012.
A series of steps are needed to negotiate a new natural gas price, Pavlov said in response to a question, as quoted by BTA.
The current procedure concerns clauses in the contracts and not new prices, BTA quoted forer energy minister Delyan Dobrev, who too attended the meeting with Gerdjikov, as saying. If new negotiations are held, it will be at a later stage, Dobrev added.