OREANDA-NEWS. Bulgartransgaz, a gas operator in Bulgaria, has signed a contract to buy 20 percent of the supplies in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal project in Alexandroupolis, Greece. This was reported by RIA Novosti.

The significance of the contract for the economies of the countries is underlined by the fact that it was attended by the heads of the governments of Greece and Bulgaria - Kyriakos Mitsotakis (in the photo on the right) and Boyko Borisov (in the photo on the left).

The launch of the terminal will allow Bulgaria to gradually abandon Russian gas and switch to LNG. At the same time, back in March, the republic was able to get from Gazprom the maximum discount of 40 percent in the new contract. Then Borisov called such conditions a gift for the country, and Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova thanked the European Commission for its help.

Bulgaria has already reduced purchases from Russia in connection with the purchase of LNG - last year the republic bought 0.5 billion cubic meters through the Greek terminal.

Another consequence of the agreement will be the fact that of the main clients of the Russian monopoly, only Serbia, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic do not have or will not receive direct access to LNG in the near future. However, the last three countries are well integrated into the pan-European gas system, that is, they are able to buy fuel from gas hubs.