Bulgaria was on the brink of an unprecedented gas crisis because of heating companies' (the Toplofikatsiya utilities around the country) unpaid debts, the state-owned gas company Bulgargaz said on September 3.

Bulgargaz was urgently trying to collect at least 80 million leva from its debtors, the Sofia, Pleven, Vratsa and Bourgas heating companies, to pay Russian gas provider Gazprom. The companies' debts to Bulgargaz amounted to 230 million leva.

If the company failed to collect its clients' unpaid debts, the country might have to buckle down on gas usage, private broadcaster bTV said.

Bulgargaz lacked the floating capital to pay Gazprom. Although the heating companies themselves could cut off gas consumption, the measure was not efficient enough and would not prevent a gas crisis, bTV wrote on its website.

Bulgargaz executive director Dimitar Gogov told bTV that the 80 million leva was the amount the company "needed to get a breath of air, so to say".

Gas provision security was no longer problem only for the debtors, but for all consumers in the country.

"It would not only be the paying customers of the heating companies who would be affected, but also customers in the economic and industry sectors - all gas consumers would be affected," Gogov said.

Toplofikatsiya Sofia was Bulgargaz's greatest debtor. Sofia city hall, which is a majority shareholder in the company, was seeking for a way to help the debt to be paid off, bTV said. Among the possibilities was taking out a loan or increasing the company's capital.