site.btaUPDATED PM Says Bulgaria Owes USD 360 Mln to BOTAS, Settling It "Will Not Burden Bulgarian Finances"

Prime Minister Rumen Radev said here Tuesday that Bulgaria owes BOTAS, the Turkish gas company, USD 360 million and settling this debt "will not burden the Bulgarian finances". Radev was speaking on his departure for Ankara where he will be among the participants in a NATO Summit.

The Prime Minister was also in Ankara on Monday for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Later the same day, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Turkiye's BOTAS signed a protocol suspending their gas supply agreement for 15 months. 

Speaking to reporters at Sofia Airport, Radev said: "Today we are determined to put Bulgaria on the European energy map - not only as a country that transits gas but also as a country that effectively trades in gas." 

The Bulgargaz agreement in question was signed on January 3, 2023. Under the contract, the Bulgarian side booked capacity of 106.4GWh/day on the Turkish LNG regasification terminals and agreed to pay for this BGN 1 million (EUR 512,000) daily for a period ending in 2035. At present, Bulgargaz does not import gas under the agreement with BOTAS, and in early May its arrears to the Turkish company approximated BGN 300 million. If the 13-year take-or-pay agreement is rescinded, the Bulgarian company will be liable for close to BGN 3 billion in damages. By a resolution passed on April 19, 2024, the Bulgarian National Assembly assigned then-energy minister Vladimir Malinov to take action for re-negotiating the agreement.

Radev also said that "Bulgaria values highly its relations with Turkiye and the support that Turkiye provided during the gas crisis when the Petkov-Vassilev Cabinet left this country without gas".

On April 27, 2022, Russia's Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria after the government of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov - where Assen Vassilev was Finance Minister - refused Moscow's demand to pay for gas in rubles following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Bulgaria became one of the first EU countries to be cut off.  Petkov's government argued it would not accept the new payment mechanism because it violated existing contracts and EU sanctions policy. Instead, it sought alternative supplies, including increased imports from Azerbaijan and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Dwelling on the BOTAS deal freeze, Radev reiterated that over the next 15 months Bulgaria won't be paying for capacity but only for the gas delivered via BOTAS, and during these 15 months the deal will be reviewed "based on this protocol [signed Monday] that has several key parameters which pave the way to these negotiations".

He said further: "All the politicians who refused to use this contract [with BOTAS], to develop it, to optimize it - and only sabbotaged it - because the energy contribution adopted in 2023 effectively sabbotaged the memorandum signed between the Hungarian company MVM and Bulgargaz seriously undermined Bulgaria's image as a reliable trade partner. And the current government is only now starting to make efforts to minimize the harm."

"Energy contribution" here is a reference to a controversial BGN 20 per megawatt-hour levy on Russian natural gas transiting Bulgaria, introduced by Parliament in October 2023. The measure was proposed by the then ruling coalition of GERB-UDF, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). It targeted Russian gas transported through the TurkStream pipeline, affecting supplies destined for countries including Hungary and Serbia.
The levy was widely criticized by Hungary and Serbia, which argued it increased energy costs and undermined regional energy security. It was repealed by the Bulgarian parliament less than two months later, before it was ever collected. Radev has repeatedly argued that the measure undermined Bulgaria's energy partnership with Turkiye and disrupted efforts to use the 2023 Bulgargaz-BOTAS agreement to facilitate gas supplies to third countries. The Prime Minister also argues that the levy also derailed a memorandum between Bulgargaz and Hungary's state-owned energy company MVM, damaging Bulgaria's reputation as a reliable commercial partner. The parties that backed the levy have rejected that criticism, saying the measure was intended to curb Russia's energy revenues and increase pressure on Gazprom.

On Tuesday, Radev said that those who criticized him for the BOTAS deal signed in 2023, now need to "think of new talking points" against him and his Cabinet.

He added that Bulgaria has accumulated liabilities because it has not made payments since July 2024.

"Based on this protocol, we are now finding effective solutions that will in no way burden Bulgaria's public finances," he said.

He dismissed speculations that the Monday deal was a quid pro quo and said the protocol has nothing to do with the Black Sea Motorway, free electricity transit through Bulgaria, the water of the Maritsa and Tundzha rivers, the Khan Tervel offshore prospecting block, or "the air we breathe."

"The protocol governing these relations in the gas sector has nothing to do with any other project," Radev said.

According to him, the protocol provides for a substantial reduction in the cost of regasification and gas transmission.

The Prime Minister thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for "his friendship, understanding and belief in the potential of our two countries to further develop diversification."

Radev also said that the 15-month suspension period would provide Bulgaria with an opportunity to establish itself as a gas trader.

"It has been agreed that we will find the optimal solution that will allow all issues to be resolved in the best possible way. The protocol contains all the key parameters that will enable us to achieve this," he said.

Asked how he had persuaded the Turkish president to agree to freezing the contract, Radev said it was the result of the mutual trust and friendship the two leaders had built over the years. "My word means something, just as his word means something," Radev said, adding that "absolutely nothing else was promised."

"We have held discussions on this issue, but it is in the interest of both countries, and of Europe, to work for greater connectivity in transport, energy, digital infrastructure and the transmission of green energy. Both Türkiye and Bulgaria have an interest in strengthening this cooperation," the Bulgarian prime minister said.