Bulgarian gas hub proposal

The European Commission’s Vice President for Energy Maroš Šefčovič has backed the idea of creating a European regional energy distribution hub in Bulgaria, which has been floated by its government, reports Carmen Paun.

However, speaking after a visit to Brussels by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on 12 January 2015, Šefčovič underlined the conditions necessary for this to happen in the country – proper infrastructure, transparency, liquidity and non-discriminatory access to suppliers and customers. Borisov proposed that Bulgaria could become a common gas distribution centre for European Union (EU) member countries, in the aftermath of the decision by Russia not to build the South Stream gas pipeline.

A newly-set high level working group of the European Commission will have its first meeting in Bulgaria to assess if the country has the necessary elements in place to become a gas hub.

But Paul Hunt, an independent energy consultant and former corporate economist for the Irish Gas Board (Bord Gáis Éireann) is sceptical, especially if it would involve Bulgaria setting reference prices for gas deliveries to neighbouring countries. ‘The EU’s institutions are simply papering over the cracks in the British model of regulation and competition which they have adopted and adapted and which is beginning to reveal more and more of its failings,’ he told Petroleum Review.