Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has reiterated that the government has not finalized a shale gas exploration and production contract with Chevron Corp, and that talks on the matter continue.

Borisov faced strident questioning on the subject in Parliament from the leader of  Ataka nationalist party, Volen Siderov.

The Prime Minister underscored that the terms and parameters of a potential contract that came under discussion fully upheld national interests.

The issue of shale gas development in Bulgaria has seen increasing attention since July, when Chevron won a tender to explore a concession near Novi Pazar in northeastern part of the country.

Siderov claimed that Chevron has already received the necessaty permits required for what the nationalist leader claimed would be 26 000 drilling platforms on an area of over 4000 square kilometers. 

Borisov stressed that finding shale gas did not necessarily mean that production would start.

"If we had not done it now, everybody would have accused us of shying away from guaranteeing energy diversification and gas production next generations," the Prime Minister reasoned.

Responding to Siderov, who listed harmful chemicals used in shale gas exploration and production processes, Borisov said that if one measured the harmful gases emitted from a vehicle's exhaust pipe, all cars would have to be banned, following the nationalist leader's logic.

Earlier in the week, Environment Minister Nona Karadzhova said that Bulgaria has asked the European Commission to allow an additional in-depth environmental impact study to be carried out before the launch of shale gas drilling in the country,

Bulgaria's ambitious plans to develop shale gas production, billed as a way to reduce dependency on Russian supplies, cut energy costs and even generate profit for the EU's poorest nation, has spurred heated debate about its possible environmental impacts, with environmentalists having already staged several protests against shale gas production.

Bulgaria's energy minister Traicho Traikov has said that 1 trillion (1,000 billion) cubic metres of gas could be found in Bulgaria, which would cover the country’s consumption for 300 years.