Bulgaria`s only natural gas storage facility in Chiren will be expanded to reach its maximum capacity, announced Kiril Temelkov, head of the state-owned company Bulgartransgaz. Thus, the Chiren storage site will reach its maximum capacity of 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas, said Temelkov. Bulgartransgaz, a subsidiary of the state monopoly Bulgargaz, is the owner and manager of the Chiren gas facility.

Temelkov did reveal, however, that the expansion of the Chiren site - which should be completed by 2015, will cost the company about EUR 200 M. "The funding will be raised through loans, and from the company`s business activities," he stated, while explaining that the Chiren facility will be expanded only slightly in 2013, with the expansion proceeding in several stages