Bulgaria would claim compensations from the three companies that provide natural gas to the country in order to recover losses it suffered from the cut off of its supplies, Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov told private national broadcaster bTV on January 6 2009.

"We have perfect contracts with these companies that stipulate what needs to be done in cases of interrupted gas supplies. In this situation when we have a complete halt of the supplies we can not be compensated in any other way than financially" he said. The three companies in question are Overgas, Gazpormexport and Wintershall.

A few hours later, after meeting business representatives, Dimitrov said that Bulgaria could seek compensation with the help of the European Union.

Dimitrov was quoted by Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik as saying that Russia has asked Bulgaria to pressure the Ukraine to pay its debts to Russia's Gazprom.