April 11 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz recorded a profit of 100 million levs ($58.3 million/51 million euro) for 2015, up from 75.7 million levs a year earlier, the company's chief executive officer said on Monday.
About 80% of Bulgartransgaz revenues come from transit of gas to neighbouring countries, Bulgartransgaz CEO Georgi Gegov said on the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) without specifying the amount of revenues.
Gegov also disclosed that Bulgartransgaz has secured a 220 million euro European funding to finalise a project for expansion of the capacity of Bulgaria's sole gas storage in Chiren.
Last summer, the European Commission approved a 3.9 million euro assistance for 3D onshore seismic surveys as a part of the Chiren underground gas storage (UGS) expansion project under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Energy 2015.
Under the project, the facility's capacity will be raised to up to 1,000 million cu m from 550 million cu m at present, which, according to Gegov, will cover the country's consumption of gas for more than six months.
The gas storage expansion is projected to be completed in 2017.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)