April 29 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria is set to become a regional coordination centre for the European Union in charge of the natural gas and electricity distribution infrastructure in the Southeast European (SEE) region, finance minister Asen Vasilev said.
The next step will be to start carrying out joint gas purchases together with the other member states from the region, Vasilev said in a statement on Thursday after a series of meetings in Brussels to discuss the bloc's collective response to the suspension of Russian gas deliveries to Bulgaria.
Bulgaria, which received strong support from EU institutions, has also asked for assistance from EU legal teams in relation to a possible arbitration procedure against Gazprom, whose decision to stop delivering gas is in stark breach of the existing contract, Vasilev added.
In a separate statement, the European Commission said that it will set up a pilot regional taskforce in Sofia, which will analyse gas and power needs, prices and flows as well as infrastructure details, with a focus on the year ahead. The regional hub will coordinate international purchase and storage of gas as well as transmission network interconnections, as part of the bloc's REPowerEU plan to cut reliance on Russian fossil fuels.
Bulgaria has sufficient gas reserves and there will be no supply issues in the coming months, according to the government's press release.
"We are currently negotiating deliveries from various suppliers, and if we succeed in reaching an agreement, we can avoid raising the price of gas," energy minister Alexander Nikolov said.
Bulgarian energy regulations require state supplier Bulgargaz to request a monthly gas price. At the start of each month, the energy regulator has the final say in approving or amending the monthly price at which the state-owned company sells natural gas to end-suppliers and customers directly connected to its network.
In early April, Bulgargaz proposed a 5% increase in the wholesale price of gas for May to 150.11 levs ($80.92/76.75 euro) per MWh, but the company is yet to lodge a formal price request with the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)