Bulgargas has announced that there will be no further procrastination in the saga with Kremikovtzi, and that gas supply will be cut forthwith. Dimitar Gogov, Bulgargas executive director, has announced that deliveries of fuel designated for the steel mill will be cut at 2pm on Thursday, May 14.

The development will happen in spite of protests orchestrated by the plant's steelworkers in Sofia. The factory's syndicate, headed by Tsvetan Bankov, asked the Energy Ministry on Monday to apply pressure on Bulgargas and postpone the halting of supply by 48 hours.

Minister of Economy and Energy, Petar Dimitrov, subsequently agreed and instructed the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) to wait two more days. But this is as far as Bulgargas' patience is going to be stretched, in light of the steel plant's accumulated debts and their inability to meet them.

Accordingly, Dimitar Gogov has insisted that  unless a foreign investor steps in to rescue the plant and signs a contract by Thursday morning, which, given the circumstances is highly unlikely, the company (Bulgargas) will be left with no other option but cut supply in an attempt to curtail their own staggering losses.

Kremikovtzi currently owes Bulgargas a sum exceeding 105 million leva. Gogov says that the likelihood of those financial obligations being met – now or ever – are very slim, Dnevnik daily has reported.

Minister of Economy and Energy, Petar Dimitrov, said on Tuesday May 12 that keeping the  Kremikovtsi plant alive by feeding it gas was costing Bulgargas and the National Electric Company (NEC) more than 10 million leva per month – a financial loss that's impossible to sustain in the midst of an economic downturn and a global crisis.