SOFIA (Bulgaria), April 27 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria will ask for an annual renegotiation of the price of natural gas, which the country buys from Gazprom, as part of its position on the Russian gas giant’s commitments submitted to the European Commission, caretaker energy minister Nikolai Pavlov said on Thursday.
“We want gas prices to be renegotiated on an annual basis, while during the first two years the prices should be renegotiated each six months,” Pavlov said in an interview with public radio broadcaster BNR.
Gazprom’s commitments envisage that the prices will be renegotiated once every two years, Pavlov added.
The current procedure concerns the overall framework, rather than changes to the price calculation methods, the energy minister explained.
On Monday, Bulgaria said it will send a request to the European Commission to seek additional information on the commitments submitted by Gazprom.
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.