ContourGlobal Seeks Safeguards for Its Investment in Bulgarian Power Plant

US-based ContourGlobal said on Friday any change in its long-term contract for electricity sales from its Bulgarian power plant Maritsa East 3 should safeguard the investments it has made.

The company, which is majority owner of the 908 MW coal-fired power plant, also said it should be compensated for any cut in the price of the electricity it is selling to state-owned Bulgarian power utility NEK.

Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova announced earlier on Friday that the long-term contracts between NEK and the two thermal power plants AES Maritza East 1 and ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 will be renegotiated and a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed.

“It is ContourGlobal’s position that any such agreement, if reached, will not change the economic equilibrium of the contract entered into in 2001 which facilitated the investment of EUR 650 M to completely reconstruct the plant between 2004-2009 and make it the first large scale solid fuel plant in South East Europe to comply with the latest EU Emissions Directive,” the company said in a statement.

“The key elements of any changes to the agreement to amend the contract will include the full payment of past amounts due to ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 from NEK as a pre requisite. If agreed, any reductions of the capacity price paid to CGME3 will need to be compensated in a form which meets all legal and regulatory norms,” the statement read.

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