BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 22. The priorities are all about expanding the technical capacity of the interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and securing safe, reliable operations of the pipeline on daily basis to meet all nominations, Teodora Georgieva, Executive Officer of ICGB, the pipeline operator, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“We’ve had our first flawless 365 days with no incidents, fulfilling all client nominations and this was rewarding and truly inspirational for the entire ICGB team. We’re determined to continue working just as hard to maintain this track record and continue insuring safe operations – both for our employees and for IGB’s network users,” she said.
Georgieva noted that the other major area of focus for ICGB’s efforts is – of course – the incremental capacity process and the goal to expand the pipeline’s technical capacity to 5 bcm/y.
“We’ve also been working hard with other TSOs within the Vertical Gas Corridor to better plan and coordinate the development of the existing infrastructure in the region for improved security and diversification of supplies. Just recently Moldova, Ukraine and Slovakia joined the initiative and ICGB spearheaded the process as part of our continuous commitment to strengthen the energy security in the region,” the executive director added.
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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