Officials from the Counter-Corruption Commission (CCC) have inspected the Ministry of Energy and collected all documents related to the gas agreement with Turkish supplier BOTAS. According to Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov, the Ministry’s report revealed daily costs surpassing 500,000 euros, rising since January due to contractual indexing.
Stankov stated that Bulgaria is only using 11% of the gas capacity it pays for. Effectively, out of every 100 euros spent on pipeline capacity, just 13 euros go toward actual gas transmission. So far, over 250 million euros have been charged to state gas company Bulgargaz under the BOTAS deal, with only about 50 million euros covering gas that was actually delivered.
The Energy Minister has authorized state-owned companies to reopen talks with BOTAS. Turkish officials recently visited Sofia, and negotiations are ongoing. However, the current contract terms heavily favor Turkey, commit Bulgaria to a 13-year agreement worth billions of euros, and include no exit clause—making renegotiation both complex and urgent.
