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19.03.2010 09:41- Bulgaria was affected badly from the 2009 crisis
© Bulgartransgaz
According to a publication in Euractiv, members of the European Parliament (EP) have ideas for 614 amendments in the European Commission’s proposal to improve security of gas supplies following last year's price dispute between Russia and Ukraine, which affected badly the Bulgarian energy consumers. The EP has been working on the document for the last six months and according to some MEPs it has “high political sensitivity” despite its technical nature. Euractiv says the main objective of the document is to improve coordination in case of supply disruptions, with the European Commission playing a leading role. Some of the measures include an agreement to install capabilities for reversing flows at gas pipeline 'interconnectors', the so-called 'N-1 standard', which would be put in place at key nodes in the network. The standard is intended to prevent infrastructure failure in a given country from disrupting others by allowing flows to be reversed where needed, Euractiv says.
Countries would also be obliged to maintain sufficient storage capacity to ensure normal supply even in the coldest winters. According to Alejo Vidal-Quadras, rapporteur of the measures, for some countries, such as Bulgaria and Slovakia, the N-1 standard could not apply, as they are too dependent on a single gas supply source. The rapporteur also answered a question whether the reversal of gas flow obligations would also apply to pipelines operated by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. According to his answer in front of Euractiv, “Any operator on EU soil should comply”. However, according to shadow rapporteur Konrad Szymański, some countries had signed contracts with Gazprom containing clauses that explicitly prohibit re-exporting and he is personally against such clauses and that they should be made illegal under EU law.
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