Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.8

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

It is planned to start the construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria, by late 2018, said Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

She made the remarks during the South-East Europe Energy Forum in Thessaloniki, Greece, said a message from Bulgaria’s Energy Ministry.

Petkova pointed out that IGB is of geostrategic importance for Bulgaria and Southeastern and Central Europe in terms of the diversification of supplies.

"Huge progress has been made thanks to the political commitment of the governments of Greece and Bulgaria, as well as the European Commission and the United States," she added.

Petkova went on to add that the sources of financing for the project have already been defined.

The project has already received a grant of 45 million euros under the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR) and about 39 million euros from the European Structural and Investment Funds for Bulgaria, she said.

"Currently, the project company is actively working to complete the procurement procedures, and we expect these activities to be completed successfully in the second half of the year." We plan to start the IGB construction by the end of this year and end it in 2020.”

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.