Bulgaria: Cover costs of gas cut
Bulgaria tells Gazprom to pay up
Bulgaria will seek compensation from units of Russia's Gazprom for losses caused by this month's cut in gas supplies, Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov said today.
He told parliament the government would probably request payment from Gazprom-controlled Overgas, Wintershau and Gazpromexport for "direct and indirect" damages, state news agency BTA reported.
Under existing contracts, the Balkan country can seek financial and economic compensation from the three distributors, the minister said in a Reuters report.
Compensation claims have already been sent to one of the intermediaries while claims to the other two were being prepared and would be submitted in the coming days, he said.
Dimitrov did not say how much money the government was seeking.
A spokeswoman for the Bulgarian-registered Overgas, 50% owned by Gazprom, said the company had not received any compensation claims so far and refused further comment.
A Gazprom spokesman declined comment.
Bulgaria was left without any deliveries for 15 days as a result of the cut-off.
The disruption left hundred of thousands without heat and forced dozens of factories to shut down, causing direct company losses of about 200 million levs ($133 million), according to Reuters.
Russian gas started flowing via Ukraine to the rest of Europe on Tuesday.