On New Year's Eve Bulgaria narrowly missed a rather unpleasant "déjà vu." The case between Overgas and Gazprom reminded us of the frosty days at the beginning of January 2009, when deliveries of Russian gas through Ukraine stopped completely because of financial disputes between Moscow and Kiev. During those days the Bulgarian industry actually stopped functioning, while increased electricity consumption nearly led to the collapse of the transmission system.

What happened at the end of 2015? Russian giant Gazprom informed the Bulgarian authorities through a letter to the BEH and Bulgargaz that private company Overgas, a distributor of natural gas to more than 60,000 households and 3000 enterprises in Bulgaria had not filed a request for gas deliveries from Russia starting from January and therefore the gas stopped. After that Overgas said it had not received any letters from Gazprom, had no problems with payment, etc. Thus, the information fog surrounding the case thickened.

Not surprisingly, on the first working day after the New Year, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov appeared in a TV studio and tried to make things clear. He showed a document signed by the management of Overgas, asking Bulgargaz to start pumping natural gas to them in order to save the day. Is it normal for this to happen and for contracts to be signed on December 31, the Prime Minister asked. Borissov also added that the situation with Overgas was not Gazprom’s fault. He also saw the situation with Overgas as an attempt to destabilize the government. If thousands of Overgas customers remained without heating on January 1, they would have probably started calling my name, the Prime Minister said and described as "sheer arrogance" the claims of Overgas that someone was trying to take away their business.

Some experts called the case “crime vaudeville." Others started singing the same old song about Bulgaria needing to seek diversification of Russian gas deliveries. But anyway during these few days we witnessed the typical Bulgarian obscurity. In domestic policy, it was probably intended to destabilize the political situation in the country. The government of Boyko Borisov has been going through difficult times after coalition partner DSB went into opposition. The memory of the winter of 2013 when the first government of Borisov was brought down after massive protests over high electricity bills is also alive. In economic terms, there is obviously turbulence in the energy sector in Bulgaria and possibly the time for redistribution of zones of influence has come.

It is also possible that the current case is a signal of bigger processes related to the gas hub project in Bulgaria, after the failure of the South Stream project. Or it may be linked to unmet appetites of some American corporations to develop shale gas in the country.

English: Alexander Markov