31 August 2023; MEMO: The European Commission is looking “very closely” at whether the terms of a controversial gas deal between Bulgaria and Turkiye breach the EU’s competition rules, Energy Intelligence reports.
According to the report, Bulgaria wants to book capacity of about one bcm of gas per year at Turkish LNG terminals and seal import deals with European and United States LNG producers.
The leaked terms of the January deal between Bulgargaz and Turkiye’s Botas have also raised concerns that it might create a “back door” for imports of Russian gas into the EU, which is aiming to end all imports of oil and gas from Russia by 2027.
Bulgaria, an EU member state, stopped direct imports from Gazprom last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Non-EU Turkiye, a major importer of gas from Russia and other countries, is looking at becoming a regional gas hub that could distribute gas to European countries via this deal, the report added.
