Sofia, December 17 - Neftegaz.RU. Bulgartransgaz is at the final stage of creating a natural gas trading market in Bulgaria, Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova said at a briefing in Parliament, Novinite reported.
The operator, a subsidiary of Bulgartransgaz, will be set up by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a memorandum of cooperation will be signed next week with the Central European Gas Hub, operator in Austria and the Czech Republic.
Petkova also said that Bulgartransgaz has started negotiations to acquire a 20% stake in the company that will develop the Alexandroupolis LNG project. On the other hand, a public procurement will be launched on December 21 for the expansion of the gas infrastructure on the Bulgarian-Serbian border.
Bulgartransgaz plans to seek binding bids from shippers by January 16 for a new gas link to transport mainly Russian gas from the TurkStream pipeline to central Europe, Reuters reported. Potential shippers will be invited to register for the bidding from December 21 and should file their offers to book capacity for 15 years by January 16, the documents, pending approval by the energy regulator, showed.
