"The achieved result is a significant success from a legal and economic point of view. This is a huge step in a legal direction. Regardless of the political comments, something was done that manages to correct huge imbalances created by the contract in its original form“. This was said on Nova TV by former Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov on the occasion of the agreement reached between Bulgaria and Turkey for a temporary freeze of payments under the contract with the Turkish company “Botaş“, quoted by novini.bg
“The strategic direction is correct, but the structure of the deal was horribly wrong. The main problem was the price and the way the capacity was negotiated“, Nikolov pointed out.
The former energy minister stressed that Turkey traditionally follows a long-term energy strategy and its decisions are not guided by short-term financial benefits.
“For Turkey, it is not so important whether it will receive a certain amount today or in a few years. For them, the long-term strategy and access to wider markets are important“, he commented.
According to Nikolov, the potential for closer cooperation between Bulgaria and Turkey in the field of natural gas and electricity is significant, as long as the agreements are economically beneficial for the country. "If Bulgaria and Turkey work closely together, the potential for benefits for Bulgaria is enormous," he believes.
For his part, the chairman of the Balkan and Black Sea Petroleum Association, Valentin Kanev, called for attention to be focused primarily on ensuring secure supplies for the Bulgarian market, rather than on ambitions for regional leadership.
"It is more important to solve the Bulgarian gas supply equation. Currently, Bulgaria relies on Azerbaijani gas and supplies through the LNG terminals in Greece and Turkey. This should be our main focus," said the chairman of the Balkan and Black Sea Petroleum Association.
He recalled that the circumstances under which the contract with "Botaş" was signed were fundamentally different from today's. “At that time, Europe was in the midst of a gas crisis, prices were extremely high and there were serious concerns about the security of supplies. Today, the market situation is different“, explained Kanev.
According to him, Bulgaria should continue to develop its access to Turkish LNG terminals, as this increases the opportunities for diversification of supplies.
“We need to ensure real access to the terminals in Turkey, just as we already have access to those in Greece. This is the right direction“, he stressed.
Regarding future relations between Sofia and Ankara, Kanev warned that it was important for the talks to remain focused on the energy topic. “We should not go beyond the framework of gas cooperation and mix this topic with other economic or political issues“, he said.
Despite the positive assessments of the temporary solution reached, both experts emphasized that a number of issues remain related to the accumulated obligations under the contract and the conditions after the expiration of the 15-month period.
According to Nikolov, it is the next negotiations between the two countries that will show whether Bulgaria will manage to turn the contract from a financial burden into an instrument for more active participation in the regional gas market. “Bulgaria can profit from gas trade. The question is what quantities it will deliver and at what price it will receive regasification and transmission services“, concluded the former Minister of Energy.