SOCAR keen to expand cooperation with Bulgaria
BAKU. Feb 6 (Interfax) - The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) is keen to expand cooperation with Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Energy Ministry said in a statement.
"Bulgarian Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov met with Azerbaijan's Ambassador to Sofia, Huseyn Huseynov, and SOCAR representatives on Thursday to discuss various cooperation opportunities and issues of common interest to both countries in the energy sector. The State Oil Company's representatives expressed an interest in expanding cooperation with Bulgaria," the ministry said.
Stankov said Azerbaijan was a strategic partner of Bulgaria. "The energy sector has a key place in our bilateral relations. Azerbaijan plays an important role in diversifying natural gas supplies and, accordingly, increasing the energy security of Bulgaria and the region," he said.
The sides also discussed the Black Sea Energy project to supply green energy to Europe.
"Bulgaria supports this project and considers it key to strengthening regional and national energy security and improving connectivity," the minister said.
As reported, the cable will initially be capable of exporting 4 GW of green energy at the first stage - 1 GW was originally declared.
Azerbaijan, Romania, Georgia and Hungary signed an agreement in Bucharest on December 17, 2022, on strategic partnership, which includes the construction of an energy bridge from the Caucasus region to Europe. This involves laying a 1,195 km Black Sea Energy submarine cable with capacity of 1 GW. A decision was reached in June 2023 for Bulgaria to join the project.
Laying the cable will take three or four years at an estimated cost of 3.5 billion euros. The European Commission plans to provide 2.3 billion euros for the project.
Natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria totaled 2 billion cubic meters in 2024 and 1.25 bcm in 2023. Bulgaria's gas needs exceed 3 bcm per year.
SOCAR received a 10-year license to trade natural gas in Bulgaria in the spring of 2023. SOCAR began supplying natural gas to industrial companies in Bulgaria through Bulgarian gas distributor M-Gaz in the summer of 2023. It started supplying gas to public facilities there in September that year.