Bulgaria to meet 55% of gas needs with supplies from Azerbaijan in 2024 - Azerbaijani economy minster

BAKU. May 8 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani gas supplies will cover more than 55% of Bulgaria's needs in 2024, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov said.

"We are trying to encourage our enterprises to work together more closely. SOCAR [State Oil Company of Azerbaijan] has been officially represented in Bulgaria since last year. Azerbaijan continues to export energy resources, mainly natural gas, to Bulgaria. In 2024, the volume of gas that will be exported from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria will exceed 55% of its annual consumption," Jabbarov said at the Azerbaijani-Bulgarian business forum in Baku on Wednesday.

He said Bulgaria was also interested in participating in the project to export green energy produced in Azerbaijan via Georgia to the EU.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said earlier that Azerbaijan supplied 1.25 bcm of gas to Bulgaria in 2023, up from 600 million cubic meters in 2022.