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Bulgaria may face gas crunch in 2010

Bulgaria could suffer a gas shortage in 2010 unless it agrees new volumes from Gazprom and reworks its supply contract, Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov told the energy conference Security, Liberalisation and Climate held by Capital weekly and Business and Ecology magazine. In 2006 Bulgaria negotiated a little over 3 billion cubic metres of gas annually for the time until Russia starts pumping into the South Stream pipeline. Last year Bulgaria asked the Russian giant for an additional 500 million cu m to satisfy surging gas demand. During President Georgi Parvanov& rsquo;s visit to Moscow two weeks ago, state-run gas firm Bulgargaz persuaded Gazprom to strart talks on a new contract, and executive director Dimitar Gogov said pen could be put to paper by the end of March. After 2010 Bulgaria will quench its thirst for gas through the Nabucco and South Stream pipes. According to its new energy strategy, the country should derive 34% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and 7% from L...