Bulgaria counts on soonest start of gas supplies from Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Bulgarian Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov has said that Bulgaria counts on the soonest start of gas supplied from Azerbaijan, Day.az has reported.

"If Russian gas is cut off, we will try to switch to alternative supplies," he said.

The minister stressed that by July 1, the construction of the gas interconnector with Greece should be completed and then the country will be able to count on gas supplies from Azerbaijan.

Earlier, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Asen Vasilev said that the country hopes for supplies from Azerbaijan, LNG and the discussed mechanism of joint procurement of gas from the European Union. 

Azerbaijan and Bulgaria agreed to supply 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year through the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector beginning in 2021. However, because the IGB is still under construction, Azerbaijani gas is delivered to Bulgaria via the Kulata-Sidirokastro interconnection point. Currently, the country receives only one-third of this volume.

The IGB Project (Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is being carried out by the joint venture company ICGB AD, which was established in Bulgaria in 2011 and is owned by Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD and IGI Poseidon.

The IGB gas pipeline will connect to the Greek national gas transmission system in Komotini and the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in Stara Zagora. The pipeline's planned length is 182 kilometers, with a capacity of up to 3 billion cubic meters per year in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. The pipeline is designed to increase its capacity up to 5 bcm/y depending on market interest and the capacities of neighboring gas transmission systems.

A cooperation memorandum has been signed between ICGB AD and TAP AG regarding joint actions in relation to the future connection of the IGB pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

The IGB project is critical in terms of increasing supply security and diversifying gas supplies for Bulgaria and the SEE region.