01.07.2022
“Now Bulgaria has an alternative gas supply route that is the way to real diversification. TurkStream and other quasi diversifications have nothing to do with it.” This is what Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said as he inspected the gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) in Stara Zagora region.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the promise made, viz. the physical completion of the interconnector by 1 July, had been fulfilled and this is a fact. Kiril Petkov said firmly that it is only software tests that are to be run and next week with the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, we will launch the gas interconnector that will operate as a diversification project implemented in cooperation between the two countries.
The IGB connects the gas transportation infrastructures of the two neighbor countries and ensures that Bulgaria has access to the Southern Gas Corridor and to a number of new natural gas sources. The project is implemented by the on-purpose company ICGB AD with shareholders the Bulgarian Government represented by BEH (the Bulgarian Energy Holding) (50%) and the Greek-Italian IGI Poseidon SA (50%) that is equally controlled by DEPA International Projects and EDISON.
The greater section of the 182-kilometer long IGB gas pipeline lies in the Bulgarian territory and the pipeline route goes via the municipalities of Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Dimitrovgrad and Kurdjali, ensuring the gas supplies to all communities in the region. The interconnector is of great importance both for the regions’ development and for Bulgaria’s energy independence and security. The project is in excellent synergy with other major international projects such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), as well as with projected and existing liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals. The IGB can increase its gas transportation capacity to 5 billion cubic meters per year owing, inter alia, to the completion of the planned LNG terminal in the vicinity of the Greek town of Alexandroupolis where the Bulgarian Government has become a shareholder, holding 20% of the shares.
