July 12 (SeeNews) - US-based energy development company Linden Energy has notified Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) about its agreed acquisition of 50% of Bulgarian natural gas supplier Overgas Inc, the target company said.
The US company and Overgas will focus on ensuring speedy diversification of natural gas sources to the country, the Bulgarian gas supplier said in a press release on Monday.
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Linden Energy agreed to buy the majority stake in Overgas in July last year, in what was the first US investment in Bulgaria's natural gas trading sector. The 50% holding were previously owned by Russia's Gazprom and was bought back by Overgas in December 2020, according to a statement at the time. Gazprom approved the disposal of its 50% direct and indirect interest in Overgas for 15.5 million euro ($15.5 million).
Russia's Gazprom, which so far supplied about 90% of Bulgaria's energy needs, ceased delivery in late April despite the existence of a supply contract valid until December.
Linden Energy holds 10% of the capacity of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which was formally launched on Friday and is expected to be commissioned in the next couple of months.
The pipeline, which links up to the Southern Gas Corridor, can carry 3 billion cu m of gas per year that can be increased to an annual maximum of 5 billion cu m. The IGB will import gas from Azerbaijan as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) into Bulgaria and Southeast Europe (SEE) from Greece's Alexandroupolis LNG terminal, paving the way for potential future LNG imports including from the US.
Overgas also said that it is actively working on identifying alternative gas supplies, recalling that in May it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Albanian state-owned natural gas supplier Albgaz aiming to reduce the region's dependence on Russia.
Overgas has stated it would seek to expand its business in the Western Balkans after first striking the deal with Linden Energy.
($ = 0.9987 euro)