Bulgaria Revises Legislation Impacting Gas Drilling

Bulgaria's parliament has amended legislation that was viewed as hampering exploration for conventional natural gas.

In January, Bulgaria had put in place restrictions aimed at banning the process of hydraulic fracturing used in the extraction of unconventional gases such as shale gas.

However, industry claimed the narrow scope of the legislation effectively prevented exploration for "conventional"  reserves at a depth greater than 200 metres, threatening to grind all exploration efforts to a halt.

Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev re-iterated that the relaxation in legislation was only to permit the exploration and development of natural gas by conventional methods.

"The change will by no way allow hydraulic fracturing for shale gas," said Dobrev.

Speaking to Parliament, Minister Dobrev, focused on boosting local production to increase Bulgarian energy security by lessening dependence on Russian imports.

"The extraction of local gas is 40% cheaper. I hope that you support this text, since it would be a clear message that we want reasonable gas prices and energy independence. The ban in the moratorium is perfectly clear. Points 2 and 3 show that shale gas research and extraction are banned," Dobrev continued.