CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2012
| Author | Ivanova, Evgenia Lazarova |
|---|---|
| Title | Recent Developments in the Natural Gas Market Liberalization in Bulgaria - analyzing the inconsistencies with the EU policy objectives |
| Summary | Market liberalization of the natural gas sector in the EU countries has been seen as an important tool to provide bigger choice and better products at reasonable prices to both consumers and businesses across the Union. This research examines the level of implementation of the EU gas policy objectives in the case of Bulgaria as one of the EU member states. The thesis identifies the major areas of the gas sector where the country has not achieved liberalization and the main obstacles that hinder the development of market competition. In order to answer the research questions, the Bulgarian gas industry is analyzed on the basis of five criteria: market concentration, network regulation, wholesale market development, retail market development and cross-border trade. The specific characteristics of the sector are benchmarked against the requirements of the EU legislation on market liberalization. The results show that despite the de jure gas market liberalization in the country, a number of barriers hinders the competition of suppliers, transmitters and end-providers. As a result of serious structural, regulatory, institutional and infrastructural problems, the gas sector remains highly monopolized especially on the upstream market and closed to new domestic and foreign entrants, which undermines the goals of the EU for the creation of Internal Gas Market and questions the desire of the domestic policy-makers to meet these EU policy objectives. The research concludes by providing a set of short and long-term recommendations to cure the existing problems of the industry and to fully liberalize the sector in line with the EU legislation. |
| Supervisor | Csorba, Gergely |
| Department | Economics MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2012/ivanova_evgenia.pdf |
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