New Energy market report from Business Monitor International: "Bulgaria Oil & Gas Report Q3 2013"

Boston, MA -- (SBWire) -- 07/11/2013 --Refinery operator Lukoil has made peace with the Bulgarian authorities and appears committed to renewed downstream oil investment, as well as showing interest in upstream activities. Bulgaria's upstream prospects rest on early and significant success at Black Sea drilling operations. It had been thought that shale gas prospects could stimulate long-term supply, but the ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) means there is little chance of progress, thereby frustrating international oil company (IOC) partners involved in early deals. Increased renewables usage is now a key part of Bulgarian energy policy.

The main trends and developments in Bulgaria's oil and gas sector are:

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- On January 18 2012, the Bulgarian Parliament enacted legislation to ban fracture stimulation (fracking), following widespread protests against the controversial extraction procedure. It then suspended a shale gas exploration permit it had earlier granted to Chevron, in spite of the country's speculated 1,000bn cubic metres (bcm) of shale gas potential. In June 2012, the government partly lifted the moratorium, but only for conventional gas exploration.
- Bulgarian energy minister Delyan Dobrev announced in July 2012 that Total has been awarded the highly prospective Khan Asparuh block in the Black Sea. Total will partner Repsol and OMV to explore the block.
- The cabinet has approved the tender to award drilling rights for the Sveta Marina 1-23 block covering about 1,600 square kilometres (sq km) in Bulgaria's exclusive economic rights area of the Black Sea. The licence would cover both oil and gas exploration and would be awarded for a period of five years.
- By 2020, Bulgaria is anticipated to produce 20.8% of its electricity and 23.8% of its heating/air conditioning from renewable energy, accounting for 10.8% of transport use, according to the plan passed by the government.
- Bulgarian gas consumption is rising well ahead of domestic supply. Although gas output may reach 1.2bcm by 2014, net imports by 2017 could reach 3.2bcm, rising further to a possible 4.7bcm by 2022. In November 2009, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding, under which Bulgaria plans to import about 1bcm of natural gas from the Central Asian country from 2014.
- Oil demand growth, already modest before the current economic downturn, will make little progress until GDP growth accelerates, which suggests consumption may reach just 117,200b/d by 2017 and 127,400b/ d by 2022. Imports are expected to grow in line with consumption, as exploration efforts by small independent oil companies are likely to deliver increased domestic crude volumes.

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