Baku, Sofia discuss opening of SOCAR office in Bulgaria

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Baku and Sofia have discussed the idea of opening an office of Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) in Bulgaria, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Bulgarian Energy Minister Rosen Hristov and Murad Heydarov, SOCAR representatives Executive Director for the Balkans.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed various opportunities for cooperation and touched upon issues of common interest to both sides in the field of natural gas and electricity.

SOCAR’s representatives expressed interest in cooperation with Bulgaria in a wide range of areas.

The meeting was attended by managers and experts from the Bulgarian state energy companies, BEH, EAD, NEK, ESO, Bulgargaz, and Bulgartransgaz.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on June 5, 1992. Over 70 agreements were signed between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.

With the commercial launch of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, Azerbaijan will export about 600 million cubic meters of gas to Bulgaria by the end of 2022. Bulgarian Energy Minister Rosen Hristov earlier said that negotiations are underway to increase gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, at least for the heating season, for another 200-300 million cubic meters.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $72.6 million in 2021.