Bulgaria receives LNG shipments from US

Last Saturday, Bulgaria began receiving shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the United States according to Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

90 million cubic metres of LNG was delivered by Dutch company Kolmar NL with a further 50 million cubic metres scheduled for delivery in the third quarter. 

The first LNG shipment is from US producer Cheniere and the second one from the US unit of British Petroleum.

The deliveries are part of the country's efforts to diversify its gas sources and supply chain. The pledge to diversify came in 2009 following a dispute with Moscow that disrupted supply.

“The ship carrying LNG from the United States has arrived at the Greek Revithoussa LNG terminal,” Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said. “This is yet another step towards liberalisation of the gas market and a clear sign of diversification.”

At present, Bulgaria gets nearly all of its gas from Russia through a pipeline crossing Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.

Bulgaria has also broken ground on an interconnector project which will supply gas from Azerbaijan via a connection in Greece. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 with an initial annual capacity of three billion cubic metres. 

From the perspective of the US, the Bulgaria deal will part of a larger push to export more LNG to Europe to act as a counterbalance to Russia.

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