December 15 (SeeNews) - The chairman of Bulgaria's energy regulator said wholesale gas prices may drop further in the first quarter of the year, as the decrease could be sharper than suggested by state-owned gas monopoly Bulgargaz, local media reported on Tuesday.
Gas prices may continue to fall until mid-2016, Ivan Ivanov said as quoted by news portal Investor.bg.
Earlier this month Bulgargaz said it proposed to the country's energy regulator a 2.1% decrease in the price at which the company sells natural gas to its wholesale clients in the first quarter of 2016 to 406.49 levs ($227.7/207.7 euro) per 1,000 cu m, Value Added Tax and excise duties excluded.
The adjustment in the wholesale tariff, made on a quarterly basis, must be approved by the energy regulator to take effect.
The regulator will come up with a decision on Bulgargaz's proposal by the end of the week.
Bulgargaz is a subsidiary of the state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding.
Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)