Baku, Azerbaijan, July 5
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria, cannot be hindered by environmental regulations, Trend reports citing Teodora Georgieva, executive director of the ICGB project company.
“The IGB gas pipeline has all necessary permits related to the protection of the environment on both Bulgarian and Greek territory. Based on these permissions, there are construction restrictions. There are generally no severe restrictions that hinder the implementation of the project. IGB is a linear infrastructure that currently has no compressor station. It is precisely compressor stations that increase the harmful impact on the environment because of the higher levels of hydrocarbon emissions. So there are no obstacles at present for the IGB to comply with the regulations, besides purely regulatory requirements,” she told investor.bg.
Georgieva reminded that the IGB project has passed the European Commission’s overall legal analysis for the grant approval decision as well as the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) approval for the loan.
“Environmental aspects are always one of the preconditions for approving public funding, and given the positive decisions of these two institutions and their high requirements, you can conclude that the IGB complies with the relevant regulations,” she added.
The groundbreaking ceremony for IGB was held May 22 in Bulgaria.
IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
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