Report: Bulgarian PM denies reports on refusal to negotiate with Gazprom

MOSCOW, Mar 21 (PRIME) -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has denied media reports that the country rejects any negotiations with Russian gas giant Gazprom on gas supplies, local newswire Darik News reported on Monday.

Previously, media reported citing Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Asen Vasilev that the current situation in Ukraine makes negotiations with Gazprom on a new gas supply agreement impossible.

Petkov said as quoted by Darik News, “We will not reject Gazprom in general, but we should come to negotiations with more than one card in hands.”

Bulgaria has two other possible sources of gas: an interconnector pipe that is under construction in Greece and another gas pumping point that is connected to Turkey by a pipeline, Petkov said.

The existing contracts on Gazprom’s gas supplies to Bulgaria expires in December.

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