Bulgaria takes emergency measures to deal with gas crisis

Suspension of natural gas supplies from Russia forced the Bulgarian government to order rationing for utilities, schools and hospitals. Energy and Economy Minister Peter Dimitrov signed an ordinance Wednesday night during a meeting with representatives of large gas consumers, aimed at reducing Bulgaria's daily natural gas consumption from 12 million to 18 million cubic meters per day to 5.7 million cubic meters per day. At present, Bulgaria has cut gas supplies completely to 72 big industrial consumers, while the supply for another 153 factories was rationed to enable them to maintain minimal operation. In addition, 84 of 2,761 state schools were closed due to the lack of heating, the government said. In addition, trams and buses in the capital of Sofia switched off heat to save energy. Utilities said they will switch to alternative fuels before they can heat homes again. Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said, "Our top priority is to guarantee heating for households, schools, child-care centers and hospitals... Most of the heating utilities have already been converted to diesel fuel." Under current situation, Bulgaria has to rely mainly on its reserves at the Chiren storage facility, which provides the maximum possible 4.2 million cubic meters a day. A further 300,000 cubic meters of gas come from the Galata deposit. As a country deeply dependent on natural gas, 90 percent of which comes from Russia, Bulgaria is faced with a serious crisis. Dimiter Gogov, CEO of the country's gas monopoly Bulgargaz, said Wednesday night that if pumped out at this rate, the gas reserves in the Chiren storage facility would only last about 100 days. Though Bulgaria continues to export 664 megawatts a day of power to surrounding Balkan countries, domestic power consumption is still below peak levels, Stanishev told a news conference Thursday. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and his Prime Minister have carried out negotiations with the Russian and Ukrainian sides in a bid to resume gas supplies. Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after the two countries failed to reach an agreement on gas prices for 2009, immediately resulting in disruptions of transit supplies to the EU. One fifth of the gas used by the EU comes from Russia through Ukrainian pipelines. On Thursday, the European Union hosted emergency talks separately with top executives from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine's state-run gas company Naftogaz, aiming to work out a plan to deploy an international monitoring mission at transit points to check the flow of Russian gas intended for Europe via Ukraine. But the two sides failed to agree on the mission. At least 15 European nations, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, have reported a halt in Russian gas shipments by Wednesday, Kazinform refers to Xinhunet.