Minister Malinov: Bulgaria will support Ukraine's energy sector
Minister Malinov has talked with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Geoffrey R. Pyatt in Berlin
In the framework of his participation in the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin, Minister Malinov held a bilateral meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey R. Pyatt. “The initiative of the gas transmission operators of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, to which Ukraine and Moldova subsequently joined, is a key project for energy security throughout the Southeast European region,” Minister Malinov stressed. Geoffrey R. Pyatt reaffirmed the support of the United States of America for the initiative that provided additional quantities of LNG, including from the United States, to the countries of the region and to Ukraine. He also noted Bulgaria's positive progress in implementing the project. The two underlined the successfully completed nuclear fuel diversification process, where co-operation with the U.S.A. is of major importance. “As part of the planned annual outage that ended yesterday, Unit 5 of Kozloduy NPP has loaded fuel produced by Westinghouse. Thus, for the first time in its history, the unit is now working with an alternative fuel,” Minister Malinov empahsized.
Earlier, the Bulgarian Energy Minister held a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, German Galushchenko. They expressed appreciation of the progress in implementing the Vertical Gas Corridor. “The strategic project is an expression of solidarity with Ukraine and is key to ensuring energy security following the imminent replacement of Russian natural gas supplies after 1 January 2025,” Minister Malinov pointed out.
German Galushchenko informed Minister Malinov about the energy situation in Ukraine throughout the military actions that destroyed over 40 per cent of the country’s power generation capacity. “We are reviewing possibilities where companies with the Bulgarian Energy Holding Group EAD could donate over BGN 1 million worth of equipment to the Ukrainian side to help rebuild its energy production capacity,” Minister Malinov announced.
Establishing a corridor for exporting electricity produced in Bulgaria to Ukraine is another topic discussed by the two ministers. According to Vladimir Malinov, this would provide real aid to the Ukrainian population, especially during the winter months.
Last week, Bulgaria sent to Ukraine the general terms of the contract for the sale of equipment from the Belene Nuclear Power Plant site, became clear at the meeting between ministers Vladimir Malinov and German Galushchenko. We recall that the verification of the suitability and storage of the equipment has been successfully completed.
