The German newspaper DIE Welt revealed a delicate issue concerning the probable supply of Russian gas to EU countries through a Turkish company that supplies Bulgaria thanks to a 13-year contract, even if the EU has however declared that it wants to be totally independent from Moscow's gas to starting from 2027. A declaration of intent which however clashes with the Turkish-Bulgarian agreement.
The Turkish company Boots would receive gas from Russia, via the pipeline Turkstream which crosses the Black Sea. Other Botas supplier countries are Iran and Azerbaijan, while for liquefied gas supplies come from all over the world.
The crux is that Bulgaria is a European country and would be receiving Russian gas indirectly using a Turkish intermediary company. The agreement, writes DIE Welt, was signed by Provisional Government of Bulgaria who said he was worried about the security of supplies, after Russia stopped gas exports last year. According to the terms of the agreement – which have not been published but which were disclosed by the newspaper “Politico” – the Bulgarian state gas agency Bulgariagaz can import 1,85 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Turkey. The deal does not violate EU laws: according to Brussels, the right to gas infrastructure must be awarded by tender when it crosses EU borders. However, this does not apply to contracts with third countries such as Turkey. However, there are fears that Bulgarian and Turkish companies will be favored at the expense of their European competitors.
In January, the European Federation for Energy Trade (EFET) warned in an open letter that the deal lacks transparency. “Discriminatory access to supply capacity” hinders competition in the free Bulgarian market. In Bulgaria today the new government declared that the agreement should not have been signed and ordered an official investigation. For now, however, the contract remains in place.
Bulgaraz, however, told Politico that "the fundamental condition" for tenders under this agreement is that "the origin of supplies must be exclusively from countries not affected by sanctions, embargoes or other trade restrictions" .
Last October the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that he had reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make Turkey a “gas hub” to supply the entire continent.
Former Russian Energy Minister and President of the Russian Association of Oil and Gas Producers, Yuri Shafranik, he told Politico that the EU will likely continue to purchase gas through third countries although to a lesser extent than before the war.
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