Bulgaria may stop the transportation of Russian gas to Serbia through the Turkish Stream gas pipeline if Gazprom does not resolve the transit payment problem in December. About this stated Acting Minister of Energy of Bulgaria Vladimir Malinov.
Previously, Gazprom made transit payments through Gazprombank, transferring funds to the Bulgarian company Bulgargaz for the delivery of gas to Serbia and Hungary. However, after the introduction of US sanctions against Gazprombank, this possibility disappeared.
“Bulgargaz fulfills its contractual relations on time and with the required quality. From now on, the function of the company that reserved capacity and made payments through Gazprombank is to find a solution if it wants to continue receiving the service.” – said Malinov.
In his opinion, the US sanctions provide for a transition period that allows for the transit of Russian gas through Bulgaria to Serbia until the end of December. Therefore, the issue of payment must be resolved by the end of the month. The minister added that Gazprom has not yet presented proposals for solving this problem, and the company is waiting for further steps from the Russian side.
