Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov spoke on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko Tuesday night discussing Tuesday's cutting off of Russian natural gas supplies for the Balkans, local press reported.
Parvanov pointed out that the natural gas supply to several European countries have been decreased but for Bulgaria and its neighboring countries it has been completely cut.
Bulgaria finds itself in the most unfavorable position, as in contrast to the rest of the countries affected, which have their own private alternative sources, Bulgaria does not dispose of such resource and has just slight state reserve," Bulgarian president remarked, adding that in this situation, the crisis caused by the cut deliveries could assume serious dimensions.
Ukraine's President, on the other hand, informed Parvanov about the natural gas volumes sent by Russia to Ukraine and the volumes transited to European countries.
Both presidents agreed that there is a need of independent observers at the dispatcher's stations as the reports given by Russia and Ukraine are different.
President Parvanov asked in the phone call for restoration of the natural gas supply to Bulgaria, even if in restricted volumes. Yushchenko, on his part, promised to try to influence the Ukrainian state-owned gas monopoly Naftogaz company in order to contribute for the resuming of the natural gas supplies to Bulgaria.
Yushchenko also confirmed his participation in the energy summit organized in April 2009 in Sofia by the Bulgarian government, entitled "Natural Gas for Europe -- Security and Partnership."
At 3:30 a.m. local time (0130 GMT) Tuesday morning, all natural gas supplies for Bulgaria and the adjacent Balkan countries were cut off at the Ukraine-Romania border without any explanations.
Bulgaria's natural gas consumption had been cut by two thirds as the Russian gas supplies were terminated, and the country had to rely only on its reserves at the Chiren Storage Facility.
However, according to Dimiter Gogov, the CEO of Bulgaria's state-owned gas monopoly Bulgargaz, the country's natural gas reserves might end in a few days.
Russian natural gas supplies cover about 90 percent of Bulgaria's needs, and from Jan. 3 the Russian gas supply to Bulgaria has been reducing 10 percent to 15 percent because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict over gas supply.
On Jan. 1, Russia and its energy monopoly Gazprom officially cut off supplies of natural gas to Ukraine. Ukraine owes the energy giant about over two billion U.S. dollars for past natural gas deliveries while it disputes the new price set by Gazprom for 2009 deliveries, which is more than double the price from 2008.
Source:Xinhua
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