Within his visit in Washington, the Executive Director of Bulgartransgaz EAD, Mr Vladimir Malinov, had a meeting with Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources at the Bureau of Energy Resources with the U.S. Department of State. The two discussed the successful cooperation between the Bulgarian gas transmission operator and American companies in the enhancement of the energy infrastructure in the region. The key importance of liquefied natural gas was highlighted, including from U.S. suppliers, to guarantee the security of gas supplies to South East Europe.
Mr Malinov held meetings with representatives of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and EXIM Bank – the export credit agency of the United States. He also had talks with MIGA officials – the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, member of the World Bank Group. The interest of the organisations in taking part in the funding of the expansion of the underground gas storage facility was amongst the debated issues. The project is co-funded by the Connecting Europe Facility and provides for the doubling of the capacity of the only storage facility located in Bulgaria. The volume of the active gas will increase up to 1 bcm, and the daily injection and withdrawal capacity will reach 8 - 10 mcm/d.
Malinov said to the American partners that the project is a priority project for the European Union, since it is of major importance for the increase in the diversification and security of gas supplies thanks to the growth of the share of liquefied natural gas in the energy mix in accordance with the RePowerEU Plan. „The expansion of the gas storage facility is in full synergy with the project for the construction of the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece“, he added.
Vladimir Malinov also presented to the U.S. companies the projects of the Bulgarian gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz EAD that will contribute to achieving the Green transition.
