Bulgaria’s Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, voiced his firm confidence the country can successfully deal with an eventual gas crisis during the winter.

Traikov spoke Saturday in an interview for Darik radio.

The Minister said a crisis, similar to the one from January 2009, would not be welcomed by anyone, but pointed out the Chiren gas storage is filled to full capacity while the heating utilities have enough black fuel, which is the main difference from last winter.

Traikov said the 650 M cubic meters of gas in Chiren would last for four months if heating utilities continue to use natural gas. In case they switch to black fuel, which is a possibility, Chiren would cover up to 90% of the country’s needs while the rest would be supplied from Greece.

The Minister said his institution is also working on expending the Chiren storage and is negotiating with a Czech company.

Traikov explained the cabinet was making all possible efforts to avoid gas price increase, but such move is still the call of the State regulator.

The Energy Minister declined giving an exact date when the gas contracts concluded by previous governments would be declassified and promised heating would not be interrupted regardless of what happens during the winter or how many customers are able to pay their heating bills.

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