Bulgaria imports nearly 50 million cubic metres of Azerbaijani gas in one month Eurostat data

Bulgaria imported 44.6 million cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan in May 2024, a figure nearly identical to the same period last year, according to data from the European Union's statistical office, Eurostat.

The total cost of gas imports decreased from 27.1 million euros to 24.7 million euros, reflecting a nearly 9 per cent reduction, Caliber.Az reports, citing Azerbaijani media.

In 2023, Bulgaria imported over 920 million cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan, totaling 311.5 million euros.

From January to May 2024, Bulgaria received 218.4 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan, costing 117.7 million euros, compared to 220.3 million cubic metres worth 145.5 million euros during the same period last year.

Notably, Bulgaria began importing gas from Azerbaijan through the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB), which was launched on October 1, 2022. The contractual supply volume for this interconnector is 1 billion cubic metres per year, with a total capacity of 3 billion cubic metres and the potential to expand to 5 billion cubic meters annually.

Azerbaijan supplies gas to Europe through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor. TAP has a capacity of 10 billion cubic metres, with the possibility of expansion to 20 billion cubic metres per year.