Part 31 (1/2)
Production of crude oil rose from 200,000 tons in 1960 to 500,000 tons in 1967 but declined thereafter to 305,000 tons in 1971. Natural gas output, which had increased to 18.5 billion cubic feet in 1969, declined to 16.7 billion cubic feet in 1970 and 11.6 billion cubic feet in 1971.
Imports of crude oil, mostly from the Soviet Union, increased almost 3- times between 1965 and 1971 to a level of 7.5 million tons. In 1972 the Soviet Union alone provided 95 percent of the country's requirements for crude oil and petroleum products. Imports of natural gas from the Soviet Union, through a pipeline still under construction, are scheduled to begin in 1974 at a level of 35 billion cubic feet and to continue at an annual rate of 106 billion cubic feet beginning in 1975. The planned 1975 import volume represents about three-fourths of the estimated requirements in that year.
Crude oil is processed in two refineries, located at Burgas and Pleven, with daily throughput capacities of about 16,500 tons and 5,500 tons, respectively. Except for the small domestic output, crude oil for the Pleven refinery is moved by rail from Black Sea ports. A pipeline network that will connect the refinery with the ports is under construction and is scheduled to enter into full operation in 1975. By that date the capacity of the Pleven refinery is planned to attain 16,500 tons per day. A pipeline under construction for the transport of petroleum products from the Burgas refinery to consuming centers at Stara Zagora and Plovdiv is to be completed sometime in 1973.
The refinery output has not been sufficient to cover all the country's requirements for petroleum products. Net imports of petroleum products in 1970, including gasoline, fuel oils, and lubricating oils, amounted to 2.5 million tons. Ninety percent of the imports originated in the Soviet Union.
Electrical Energy
Installed electric generating capacity and production of electrical energy increased more than fourfold in the 1960-71 period but failed to keep pace with the country's growing requirements. Installed capacity in 1971 was 4.48 million kilowatts, including 3.65 million kilowatts in thermal and 0.83 million kilowatts in hydroelectric stations. During the period the proportion of hydroelectric capacity declined from 50 to 18 percent, and the production of electricity per kilowatt of hydroelectric capacity dropped by more than one-third. The utilization of thermal capacity declined by 13.5 percent.
New power from generating plants scheduled to begin operation in the 1971-75 period totals about 3 million kilowatts. Major power stations to be commissioned include: hydroelectric stations--with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts--on the Sestrimo cascade, in the upper reaches of the Maritsa River and at the Vucha cascade, southwest of Plovdiv; a thermal power plant with a capacity of about 620,000 kilowatts at Bobov Dol, fueled by local coal; and an atomic power station with a capacity of 880,000 kilowatts at Kozloduy on the Danube River, in the northwestern corner of the country. According to government plans, total generating capacity is scheduled to reach 7 million kilowatts in 1975 and 12 million kilowatts in 1980. The more distant plans include the construction, jointly with Romania, of a hydroelectric power complex on the Danube, at Belene on the Bulgarian bank of the river and Ciora on the Romanian side. The Soviet Union has provided large-scale technical and material a.s.sistance in the development of the electric power system.
Production of electrical energy amounted to 21 billion kilowatt-hours in 1971, of which 90 percent was generated by thermal stations. Energy output in 1972 reached 22.3 billion kilowatt-hours. The Sixth Five-Year Plan calls for an energy output of 30.5 billion kilowatt-hours in 1975, which is equivalent to an average annual increase in output of 9.4 percent during the five-year period. In the years 1971 and 1972 energy output rose by an average of 6.9 percent per year, so that an average annual rise of 11 percent will be needed in the remaining years to attain the planned goal in 1975. Consumption of electrical energy in 1975 is planned to reach 33.5 billion kilowatt-hours. The planned deficit of 3 billion kilowatt-hours is to be covered by imports from Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.
The electrical transmission network is well developed, and further major improvements have been planned. The network is connected with the power grids of Romania and Yugoslavia. A 400-kilovolt power line from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union was reported to have been completed in mid-1972. There was no evidence nine months later that power had actually been transmitted over that line.
Eighteen percent of the total electrical energy supply in 1971 was used by the power stations or lost in transmission. Of the remaining net supply, almost 70 percent was consumed in industry and construction; agriculture received only 4 percent; and transport and communications accounted for little more than 3 percent. Households were allotted about 16 percent of the net electrical supply, and the balance of 7 percent was consumed in trade, public inst.i.tutions, and street lighting. The major industrial users of energy were metallurgical enterprises and the producers of chemicals and rubber; each of these industrial branches consumed one-fifth of the energy supply to industry.
Expansion of electric-generating capacity and energy output at rates planned by the government has been hampered by a chronic lag in new construction and by inadequate maintenance of existing facilities. The lack of preventive maintenance and disregard of technical requirements in the operation of equipment result in frequent breakdowns requiring major repairs. Such repairs, particularly those involving boilers, turbines, and transformers, pose difficult problems because of the shortage of technically qualified repair personnel and ineffective organization of repair work. Efficiency of operation is also adversely affected by a high labor turnover and the difficulty of finding qualified replacements.
The lag in the completion of new power stations, equipment breakdowns, and insufficient water reserves for hydroelectric stations have caused frequent power shortages, particularly at peak load hours. Elaborate official measures have been introduced to regulate the consumption of electricity and to eliminate waste, including a bonus system for saving electricity. These measures have not proved sufficiently effective, and some enterprises have been reported to earn bonuses by the simple expedient of overstating their requirements in the formulation of the annual economic plans. The State Inspectorate for Industrial Power and Power Control, it was stated by officials, was not in a position to solve the problem of economizing electric power without the active cooperation of every enterprise, plant, and trade union. Additional unspecified measures affecting industry were reported to have been taken in 1973 to reduce peak power loads, and the population was advised to use electricity more sparingly between 6:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.
RAW MATERIALS
In 1970 about 54 percent of the manufacturing industry's output was based on industrial materials, and 46 percent was derived from agricultural raw materials; the proportion of industrial materials in manufacturing continued on its post-World War II upward trend in the 1960-70 period from a level of 24 percent in 1948 and 49 percent in 1960. This trend was sustained by the relatively rapid rise in the production and imports of industrial materials compared to the slower increase in agricultural output and imports. Because of the limitation of domestic resources, further industrial expansion will necessitate ever larger material imports.
Iron and Steel
The main deposits of iron ore are located at Kremikovtsi, northeast of Sofia, and at Krumovo in the lower Tundzha valley. Other small deposits of little or no commercial value are scattered in the Strandzha mountains, in the western Stara Planina, and at several locations in the Rodopi (or Rhodope Mountains). The ore in the Kremikovtsi deposit is of low grade; it has a mineral content of about 33 percent and requires beneficiation. Reserves at Krumovo were reported to be of better grade but much smaller. Available evidence suggests that mining at this deposit was discontinued after the mid-1960s. Its site is far removed from the country's two iron and steel mills.
Reserves at Kremikovtsi were estimated a number of years ago to contain from 200 million to 250 million tons of ore. An official Russian-language survey of Bulgaria, published in 1969, cited a figure of 317 million tons for total iron ore reserves but mentioned only the Kremikovtsi deposit as one being mined. In a review of the country's natural resources, published in a Bulgarian technical journal in mid-1970, it was stated that known reserves of iron ore would last another fifty years. At the average annual rate of iron ore output in the years 1968 and 1969 the reported life span of the deposits indicates a reserve of only 133 million tons as of 1970. Whatever the actual reserves may be, domestic iron ore has had to be supplemented by imports of about 1 million tons per year from the Soviet Union and Algeria to meet the requirements of the metallurgical industry.
Reserves of steel-alloying minerals are reported to be available, particularly manganese, chromium, and molybdenum. The quality of the manganese ores, however, is low, and reserves of chromium are insufficient for the needs of the economy. Output data are available only for manganese ore. Production of this mineral declined by about 60 percent in the 1957-70 period, which suggests the depletion of known reserves. The metal content of the manganese ore mined in 1970 amounted to 10,300 tons. In that year the discovery of new manganese deposits in the Obrocha area was reported, the eventual exploitation of which, it was said, would not only provide for all domestic requirements but would also make it possible to export manganese for an entire century.
Although small amounts of ferroalloys are also obtained as by-products of copper, lead, and zinc smelting, imports must be relied upon to cover substantial deficits. Imports of manganese ores and concentrates in 1969 and in 1970 were more than double the volume of domestic production, and imports of chromium and chromite amounted to 3,400 tons in 1969. Nickel and t.i.tanium were also imported.
Steel is produced at the integrated Kremikovtsi metallurgical combine and at the smaller integrated Lenin Steel Works in Pernik. With Soviet a.s.sistance the Kremikovtsi combine is being expanded to a planned annual capacity of 2 million tons of steel and 2.2 million tons of rolled products by the end of 1975. A third c.o.king plant was put into operation in the spring of 1971, and the production of c.o.ke is scheduled to reach 1.4 million tons in 1975, compared to an output of 837,000 tons in 1970.
The steel mill at Pernik is to be modernized, also with Soviet a.s.sistance.
Production of pig iron and steel increased about sevenfold in the 1960-70 period, reaching levels of 1.25 million tons and 1.8 million tons, respectively. The same was true of rolled steel products, the volume of which rose to 1.42 million tons. Nevertheless, Bulgaria remained a net importer of iron and steel throughout the entire period.
In 1970 the import surplus amounted to 272,000 tons of pig iron and 96,000 tons of steel.
Nonferrous Metals
Reserves of nonferrous metals are reported to be more plentiful than reserves of iron ore. Unofficial claims have been made that copper reserves will meet requirements during the next fifty years despite the planned rapid growth in output. Similarly, known reserves of lead and zinc ores were said to be sufficient to supply the needs of available smelters until 1990. A foreign observer, however, noted that plans for large-scale expansion of nonferrous mining and smelting may be frustrated by the deteriorating quality of the ores being mined and that metal output may not rise much beyond the level attained in the late 1960s. In fact, mine output of lead and zinc in 1970 was not higher than it had been in 1960, although the mine output of copper increased at an annual rate of 7.1 percent from 1967 to 1971. In this context it is noteworthy that data on nonferrous metals were omitted from the official statistical yearbook published in 1972.