BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 9. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Bulgarian M-Gas are researching ways to reach third-country markets together, founder, head of M-Gas company Stoyan Manolov told Trend.
"We have 22 years of Bulgarian and European experience. If we can strike an agreement with SOCAR, we will help this Azerbaijani company start gas trading in countries where M-Gas has gas trading permits.
Such licenses, as well as contracts with transportation companies (all documents according to EU standards), are available to us in Romania, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary. We can establish a joint venture with SOCAR to facilitate its gas operations in the specified countries," said Manolov.
He mentioned that M-Gas became the first company in Bulgaria to supply compressed natural gas (CNG, compressed at compressor stations at a pressure of 200–250 bars of natural gas) and other gas-based fuels.
"Our company provides services for compression, logistics, transportation, and decompression of natural gas. We became most active after Bulgaria eliminated the gas source monopoly two years ago, started diversifying sources, and the private sector got the opportunity to develop gas businesses," emphasized Manolov.
The head of M-Gas also stated that he intends to participate in the Baku Energy Week in early June 2024 to explore the possibility of establishing partnerships in Azerbaijan.
According to an informed source in Azerbaijan, SOCAR and M-Gas are thoroughly studying the attractiveness of the idea of cooperation.
The SOCAR office in Sofia has been operating for more than a year, overseeing the work of the Azerbaijani company in the Balkans.