The Macedonian government invited Bulgarian gas company Bulgargaz to participate in a tender to build two 200 MW co-generating capacities in Macedonian capital Skopje, Bulgargaz CEO Liubomir Denchev was quoted by mediapool.bg as saying on February 22 2008.

Bulgargaz was set to tie up with French utility firm Dalkia in what will be another attempt by Bulgargaz to diversify its investments and expand in the South Eastern Europe region. Recently, the Bulgarian company bought about one per cent in Romanian peer Transgaz.

Dalkia would hold the majority 80 per cent in the consortium and Bulgargaz the rest, Denchev said. Company sources claimed that it was forced to invest abroad because of the unstable regulatory environment in Bulgaria, stemming from the frequent changes by the State Energy and Water Regulation Commission.

As already reported by The Sofia Echo, consultancy firm Deloitte has made the same conclusion, last week quoting an assessment by international credit rating Moody's, which put Bulgaria in the fourth from bottom category in terms of favourable impact of the regulatory framework.

At the same times, Bulgargaz had to shelve its plans to build a natural gas trading platform together with Austrian oil and gas company OMV, which recently entered a joint venture with Russia's Gazprom to manage Austria's gas distribution hub Baumgarten, the third largest structure of its kind in Europe, Delchev said. As a consequence, the Bulgarian company would now have to hold talks with the new company.

Bulgargaz officials are also due to meet in the near future with Gazprom counterparts to discuss the plans to build and run the South Stream gas pipeline through Bulgarian territory. The pipeline would move Russian gas along the Black Sea bed through Bulgaria and Serbia to Western Europe and Italy.