Türkiye’s state-owned natural gas and LNG firm Botas will supply one liquefied natural gas cargo in June to Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz following the completion of a recent tender.
Earlier this month, Bulgargaz launched a tender seeking one cargo of about 1 TWh (3,400,000 MMBtu) for delivery to LNG terminals in Turkiye during June 24-June 25.
Bulgarian energy minister Vladimir Malinov announced on Thursday that 13 companies participated in the tender, and 10 of them submitted binding offers.
He said that Botas was “ranked first”.
“In addition to the reserved capacity under the agreement signed between the companies at the end of 2022 agreement, Botas will make a discount,” he said.
This will lead to costs saving for Bulgargaz of about BGN 11.5 million ($6.38 million) for the month of June, Malinov said.
In addition, Bulgargaz announced on Thursday two tender procedures – one for using the free capacity under the agreement with Botas under equal conditions for all commercial participants.
The second tender procedure is for the provision of a service by Bulgargaz for companies that would like to supply gas to the entire region, Malinov said.
Capacity deal
The capacity deal between Botas and Bulgargaz allows the latter access to Turkish LNG import terminals and the grid.
The duration of the agreement is 13 years and includes a gas transfer of up to 1.5 billion cubic meters per year.
In April last year, US LNG exporting giant Cheniere delivered the first cargo to Bulgargaz to the Marmara Ereglisi onshore terminal in Turkiye as part of the deal.
In October 2023, TotalEnergies Gas and Power won a tender to supply two LNG cargoes to Bulgargaz in January and February this year via LNG terminals in Turkey.
Earlier this year, Bulgargaz also selected TotalEnergies to supply one LNG cargo in March via Greece’s Revithoussa LNG import terminal.
Prior to this tender in May, Bulgargaz launched a tender in March seeking one LNG cargo for delivery on May 18, 2024 to the FSRU-based Alexandroupolis terminal in Greece, or an LNG terminal in Turkiye.
Bulgargaz previously booked capacity at Gastrade’s FSRU-based LNG import project in Alexandroupolis, which is currently working to launch commercial operations.
Gastrade recently said it has postponed the launch of commercial operations due to a “technical issue”.
“The company is continuing to address the issue that arose during the commissioning phase and will advise on a new commercial operations date, and next cargo, as soon as possible,” a spokeswoman for Gastrade told LNG Prime.