BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.25
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The implementation of the interconnector Greece–Bulgaria (IGB) is moving at an accelerated pace so that it can be put into commercial operation by the end of this year, entirely in synergy with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told Trend.
She noted that the field along the route is currently being cleared and pipes supplied.
By 24 February at the main camp near the town of Haskovo nearly 900 pipes with a total length of over 15 km are already delivered, added Petkova.
“We have the assurance of the contractors with whom I have regular meetings that the preliminary set timetable will be implemented and the interconnector will be put into commercial operation by October 2020. At that time we also expect the delivery of the first 1 bcm of natural gas for which Bulgargaz has concluded a contract with the Azerbaijan SOCAR,” said the minister.
The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria project envisages a two-stage development.
In the first stage, the pipeline capacity will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 2.7 billion cubic meters will be offered for the long-term market, the remaining share of 0.3 billion cubic meters in the short term.
In a second phase, also depending on the evolution of the market, the capacity of the pipeline can be increased to 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas thanks to the addition of a compression station: 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas 0.5 billion cubic meters of short-term gas will be offered for long-term products.
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