The relaunch of unit 3 of Kozloduy nuclear power plant and switching to residual fuel oil were Bulgaria's current alternatives to halted supplies of Russian natural gas, according to President Georgi Purvanov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.

Hours after Russia cut off all supplies to Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans, at 3.30am on January 6 2009, both Purvanov and Stanishev said that Bulgaria was the worst hit victim of the Russian-Ukraine dispute that involves Ukraine's debt to Russians' Gazprom and the new higher prices the latter has asked from the Ukrainians.

Purvanov told reporters that the country should immediately start working on relaunching unit 3 of Kozloduy which was shut down as part of Bulgaria's obligations when joining the European Union in 2007.

The relaunch of the unit would help the country survive the crisis, he said. He added that should the situation remain unchanged in the next couple of weeks he expected the EU to let Bulgaria relaunch the unit.

Talks regarding relaunching units at Kozloduy have been going on for the past two years. Yet the EU has been unwilling to discuss the matter.

Bulgaria could also switch from natural gas to residual fuel oil where possible, he noted. Purvanov said he has already had talks with Lukoil Neftochim refinery in the Black Sea city of Bourgas to increase the production of residual fuel oil. It could be used as an alternative fuel for the country's heating utilities which would be the first to suffer from the halted natural gas supplies.

Bulgaria has no more than a month's supply (with reduced consumption) and given the cold weather the crisis might result in shutting down central heating. This would affect not only residential buildings but kindergartens, schools and hospitals.

The country has no other access to other natural gas pipelines, unlike Turkey for example. This makes the situation even worse should the crisis continue. Talks on several pipeline projects such as the South Stream have been started but have not reached the development stage.

One of the largest chemical plants, Neochim, has already said it was switching off production units. Dobrich, a city in northern Bulgaria, has also been left without natural gas supplies following the crisis.

Prime Minister Sergei Stansihev shared Purvanov's opinion about the place of Bulgaria in the Russian-Ukraine dispute.

"We are facing a serious natural gas crisis where Bulgaria is a victim of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," he was quoted as saying by Bulgarian news agency Focus.

On January 5 2009 the supplies of natural gas to Bulgaria were 6.2 million cu m, he said. After 11pm on January 5 they were reduced to 4.3 million cu m and, as of 3.30am on January 6, they were terminated. 

Bulgaria needed 12 million cu m of natural gas supplies a day. The country's sole reserve tank in the village of Chiren had a supply of 570 million cu m of natural gas and could supply just 4.3 million cu m a day or one third of what was needed.

Priority would be given to public buildings, schools, kindergartens and hospitals and residential buildings, Stanishev said. He has also held talks with Lukoil Neftochim that currently had 29 000 tons of residual fuel oil. The refinery said it was ready to sell 3000 tons of residual fuel to heating utilities.

Should the situation becomes worse the Government could use some of the state war time reserves to cover the demand or try to buy fuel from abroad he said.

Bulgaria had never been warned about the termination of the gas supplies Stanishev said "it just happened". The European Commission has been notified about the situation, he said.