BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 22. The expansion of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) will be in focus of the upcoming Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council’s meeting to be held in Baku March 1, Teodora Georgieva, Executive Officer of ICGB, the pipeline operator, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“This is a highly impactful forum and many of the discussions held there over the past few years have been key for shaping the energy sector. I expect this year will be no exception. ICGB will be focusing on topics that are also of relevance to a much wider international audience – the pipeline’s capacity expansion to 5 bcm/y and the impact this will have in the region, joint work under the Vertical Gas Corridor initiative,” she said.
Georgieva pointed out that with IGB being part of the Southern Gas Corridor thanks to its direct connection with TAP, it will also be of strategic importance to explore the potentials and further enhancement of the current infrastructure’s capacity to enable increased supplies via TAP and TANAP in synergy with the Trans-Balkan pipeline.
The IGB gas pipeline connects with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe - 32'' - and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction Greece - Bulgaria. Depending on the market interest for larger capacity and the possibilities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the capacity of IGB is designed with the option for increase up to 5 billion m3/year with additional construction of a compressor station.
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