January 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's utilities regulator said that it endorsed a wholesale price of natural gas of 179.33 levs ($97.71/91.68 euro) per MWh for January, up from 146.09 levs for December.
The price takes into account the cost of gas injected in Bulgaria's Chiren underground storage site as well as Azeri gas delivered via the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and covers 27% of the country's needs, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said in a statement on Sunday.
By comparison, European natural gas prices currently stand around 118 euro ($125.75) per MWh for January delivery.
The significantly lower final price for the current month is mainly due to the drop in the prices of the commodity on the European spot markets as well as the lower-than-expected volumes for release from Chiren due to the mild winter weather, the EWRC explained.
In addition, the public supplier has injected further quantities of gas into Chiren purchased at a lower price that offset the higher prices of gas injected over the summer and contribute to a lower average price in the mix. EWRC also said that Bulgargaz signed three contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply from three unnamed traders from the region.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)