Turkey gave Bulgaria access to its liquefied natural gas terminals, opening up a tightly controlled corner of the European gas market that could help diversify the region’s supply mix, according to Bloomberg.
Bulgaria’s state-owned Bulgargaz EAD will be able to import LNG via Turkey’s terminals and grid for 13 years, under a deal to be signed in Sofia on Tuesday.
Volume hasn’t yet been announced, but Bulgaria wanted at least 1 billion cubic meters to meet a third of annual demand.
The agreement opens up a welcome new supply route in southeastern Europe after Russia curbed supply to the continent following its invasion of Ukraine. Previously, Bulgaria’s shortest way to access LNG was via Greece, where buyers had to compete for berthing slots under European Union rules.
Turkey, outside the bloc but connected to it by pipeline, isn’t bound by those rules and has capacity to spare.
While western Europe is rushing to build new infrastructure to replace Russian gas, Turkey used less than half of its four LNG terminals’ 21.9 million tons of capacity last year, according to Bloomberg data. A fifth facility is due to start later this month.
Turkey’s Thrace region, on the border with Bulgaria, is where it plans to create a “global hub” for gas.
In addition to LNG, Ankara is investing in new storage capacity and negotiating with Russia and Turkmenistan for new supply that could flow via Turkey to Europe. Potential hurdles include pipeline costs that could run into billions of dollars and geopolitical friction between the EU and Russia.
Turkey took another step toward its aim in December when Romania agreed to import Azerbaijani gas via Turkey. Bulgaria currently gets a third of its annual supplies from Azerbaijan via a long-term contract.