According to TASS, he said this at a meeting of the Commission on Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR) of the country, during which there were discussions of the company's idea to increase gas prices in August by 60% at once.
“Until the very end, we believed that gas supplies for us would not be stopped ... We thought that it was all a joke,” he said, answering questions from KEVR chairman Ivan Ivanov.
At the same time, Ivanov declared that such thinking was inadmissible, given that the Russian side had directly warned about the new conditions.
“You didn’t believe, but as the head of a large gas company in Bulgaria, you had to act, and not just ask the government,” stressed the chairman of the commission.
At the same time, during the discussion, the head of the Bulgarian company doubted both the possibility of additional supplies of Azerbaijani gas to the country in the near future, and the launch of a gas interconnector with Greece, which still has many imperfections and problems with certification.
Earlier, the Russian ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, said that Russia was ready to restore gas supplies to Bulgaria, subject to the requirements of Gazprom.
The contract is valid until the end of this year.
Alexander Danilov, Ph.D. in Economics, spoke in an interview with the FBA "Economy Today" about the difficulties the Bulgarian economy will face if it refuses Russian gas and switches to LNG from the United States.
According to him, liquefied natural gas is not a salvation for countries that are used to getting fuel through pipelines.