Egypt and Bulgaria Sign Gas/LNG Agreement

Bulgaria and Egypt have entered into an agreement for the Eastern European country to take options on buying gas and LNG from Egypt.

Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov and Egypt's Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy signed a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation on the sidelines of an energy security summit in Bulgaria's capital city of Sofia.

According to Fahmy, Bulgaria would become a priority customer. No volume details were released, but it is thought the country would look to receive at 1 Bcm per annum. Receiving gas through a future Egypt-Turkey connector pipeline, as LNG through an existing LNG facility, or potential new build LNG plant are options being looked at.

Bulgaria's entry into the energy cooperation agreement is in line with its strategy to lessen its dependence on Russian gas who it currently imports over 95% of its needs from. In recent years Russia has put the squeeze on its energy-dependent neighbors from time to time, jacking up prices and closing the taps, leaving them scrambling for an alternative to agreements with the Kremlin for future supplies.

Sofia has previously said it was aiming for one billion cubic meters of egyptien gas per year starting from 2011-2012