Hristo Kazandjiev to FACTS: The Chiren gas storage facility could be totally compromised

In the summer of last year, the European Prosecutor's Office raided the offices of "Bulgartransgaz" in connection with the project to expand the Chiren gas storage facility. Now, Bulgarian European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva has announced that she is recusing herself from the case because she was threatened by Delyan Peevski. He replied that he would take her to court for her words. Also, Georgieva is currently removed from her post because the European Prosecutor's Office is investigating her. In FACTS, we wrote about the expansion of the Chiren gas storage facility and showed a signal to a number of Bulgarian institutions, which was submitted by experts. What to expect… Energy expert Hristo Kazandjiev speaks to FACTI.

- Mr. Kazandjiev, did you expect that the European Prosecutor's Office would intervene in the construction of the expansion of the Chiren gas storage facility and that we would end up with such events that we are witnessing. Bulgarian European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva recused herself from this case, and the European Prosecutor's Office is investigating it?
- Yes, I expected such events to come to even more dramatic ones, because the case is not only scandalous in scale, it is mind-boggling. Why is it mind-boggling!? Because the whole scheme was made so that some, roughly speaking, 100 million leva could be stolen for an expansion of the Chiren gas storage facility, which must be implemented in a certain way. And they want to simplify things so that a pseudo-expansion can be implemented at a significantly lower price, and the difference can be pocketed. So I expect things to develop more dramatically.

- What stage is the construction of the extension at? Is it being worked on?
- There are currently two stages of the extension that have been practically completed. This includes a gas pipeline from Chiren to the compressor station "Butan" to the Balkan (Turkish) Stream gas pipeline, which was built to ensure supplies of Russian natural gas to Central Europe. The second stage of the extension has just been completed with the installation of two compressors that can provide higher pressure in the pipeline network of "Bulgartransgaz" for the connection with "Turkish Stream" and the transmission of natural gas to Serbia and Central Europe. The third part, which is the actual expansion of the gas storage capacity, is currently being attempted to start in such a way that, in the end, the gas storage facility in Chiren could be totally compromised. So I expect the events surrounding the gas storage facility to develop even more dramatically, because those who manage the cash flows of “Bulgartransgaz“ are not at all interested in the expansion of the gas storage facility. They are interested in how to “absorb“ some very large sums of money for a little pointless work.

- We heard Mr. Vladimir Malinov - the director of “Bulgartransgaz“, say that as a construction project, the expansion of the gas storage facility is going according to plan and he has no concerns?
- Malinov is telling them like the devil is the gospel! If things are going according to Malinov's plan, why is the European Prosecutor's Office investigating him. It is no coincidence that the European prosecutor's office is being activated, because we know that things are being covered up in Bulgaria, and we have engaged in criminal projects. This is a separate issue. But the expansion - the essential part of it, is not developing at all. And it is unlikely that it will ever develop for the simple reason that there are many geological and technical problems that are being totally ignored. Mr. Malinov, I don't know who is advising him, but apparently the people around him, rather those above and behind him, are advising him very badly.

- You mentioned a moment ago that you have concerns that the gas storage facility itself could be totally compromised. What do you mean?
- In order for this expansion to be realized in the way they have conceived it, the pressure in the field must be increased to the maximum extent. The initial reservoir pressure must be practically restored, and this is practically impossible to achieve, because it can lead to depressurization of the gas storage facility, for which there is a reasonable assumption. It can be assumed that such depressurization has already begun. What do I mean? Imagine that you have a car tire that is designed to withstand a pressure of 5 atmospheres. And you inflate it with 10 atmospheres. What will happen? It will explode! The same can happen with the gas storage facility in Chiren. There are purely technical circumstances that are quite complicated to explain. The fact is that at the moment the full possible volume of gas injection that the gas storage facility itself can withstand cannot be achieved. In short. At the moment, the operating pressure in the gas storage facility is about 116 bars. In 1997-1998, there was an over-injection of gas in order to guarantee the supply of natural gas to Bulgaria. During this period - within these two years, 300 million cubic meters of natural gas were lost!? They disappeared! This gives reason to believe that there are gaps in the gas storage. And since then until now, the gas storage has been operating at 116 bars, so that there is no major leak. And now they intend to inject gas into the gas storage to 160-180 bars. This could lead to the depressurization of the gas storage. I don't need to explain to you that the gas storage itself is very complex and everyone knows this very well. There are experts who understand what is at stake, but they are completely isolated. The experts are isolated because they are confusing the plans to appropriate huge public funds for the implementation of infrastructure projects without economic logic. As is the case with the notorious vertical gas corridor launched by “Bulgartransgaz“ EAD.