October 10 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) said on Tuesday that it has approved a Bulgarian state aid scheme of around 400 million euro ($424 million) provided in support of the country's exclusive state-owned natural gas supplier, Bulgargaz, in the context of the Russian war on Ukraine.
The loan was necessary to ensure an uninterrupted supply of natural gas to Bulgaria amid surging energy prices on the global markets and after the halt of deliveries last spring by Russia's Gazprom, which had until then provided 90% of the total gas volumes to cover the country's needs, the Commission said in a press release.
The EU executive found that the aid scheme had been in line with the provisions of the EU's Temporary Crisis Framework adopted in 2022 to tackle serious economic challenges borne out of the war and was a "necessary, appropriate and proportionate" measure by the Bulgarian state.
The aid to Bulgargaz was granted by the Bulgarian energy ministry in the form of a loan with subsidised interest rates. As per the Temporary Crisis Framework, the three-year loan was provided before December 31, 2022 to cover urgent liquidity needs for working capital purposes and had interest rates aligned with the minimum levels set out in the framework.
Bulgaria currently receives deliveries of Caspian natural gas from Azerbaijan via the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and supplementary quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from terminals in Greece and Turkey.
($ = 0.9439 euro)
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