Bulgarian natural gas supplier Bulgargaz recorded a net loss in the amount of some 14.8 million euros in the first nine months of 2022, compared to a net profit of 15.9 million euros in the same period last year.
Such poor result is mainly due to the changes in the company’s business model following the unilateral termination of its long-term gas supply contract with Russian Gazprom.
The company’s total revenues quadrupled in the first nine months of 2022, reaching 2.24 billion euros, spurred by high energy prices.
Bulgargaz sold 25,416,198 MWh of natural gas in the first nine months of 2022, only 1.51 % more compared to the same period of last year, while it purchased 26,083,813 MWh of gas, which is 3.05 % more than in the January-September 2021 period. Cost of natural gas sold, which made up the bulk of company expenditure, went up more than fourfold to around 2.24 billion euros at the end of September 2022.
After Gazprom unilaterally terminated the gas supply contract which was due to expire in December this year, Bulgargaz had to purchase natural gas on spot markets and through additional imports. Although purchases of imported gas dropped 18.62 % year-on-year, quantities purchased on the virtual trading point rose to some 5.9 million MWh in the first nine months of the year compared to 491,840 MWh in the same period in 2021.
