Bulgaria's only natural gas storage facility in Chiren will be expanded to reach its maximum capacity, announced Kiril Temelkov, head of the state-owned company Bulgartransgaz.

Thus, the Chiren storage site will reach its maximum capacity of 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas, said Temelkov.

Bulgartransgaz, a subsidiary of the state monopoly Bulgargaz, is the owner and manager of the Chiren gas facility.

Temelkov did reveal, however, that the expansion of the Chiren site – which should be completed by 2015, will cost the company about EUR 200 M.

"The funding will be raised through loans, and from the company's business activities," he stated, while explaining that the Chiren facility will be expanded only slightly in 2013, with the expansion proceeding in several stages.

"We are presently analyzing the structure of the gas storage site. We will then analyze the development of the projects for gas interconnections with neighboring countries, which will affect the storage expansion," Temelkov said, as cited by BGNES.

He revealed that at present, the Chiren facility has a total capacity of 450 million cubic meters of natural gas, of which 150 million cubic meters are occupied.

Bulgartransgaz is yet to hold tenders for the suppliers wishing to provide the natural gas to fill up the storage facility.

The company CEO did complain, however, that the moratorium imposed by the Bulgarian Parliament on the hydrofracking technology used for shale gas exploration and extraction actually hinders the operation of the Chiren natural gas facility.

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