Bulgaria's Natural Gas Diversification Efforts

Russia announced March 30 that it was offering Bulgaria an 11 percent discount on the price of natural gas. It also offered to help Bulgaria build a natural gas-fired power plant on the site of a recently scrapped nuclear plant project in the town of Belene, Bulgaria.

The announcement is a reaction to Bulgaria's recent moves to diversify away from importing natural gas from Russia. Currently, Bulgaria is entirely dependent on Russian imports for its natural gas consumption, which totaled 2.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2011. However, Bulgaria has recently signed agreements with Turkey and Azerbaijan to bring in about 1 bcm per year of Azerbaijani natural gas on a yet-to-be-constructed pipeline by 2014, and it also has been working with Romania and Greece to interconnect their natural gas grids. This diversification will give Sofia new leverage in future pricing negotiations with Russia.