March 24 (SeeNews) - Gas grid operator Bulgartransgaz said that it has finalised the definitive list of contractors under its tenders for the expansion of Chiren underground gas storage site and the construction of a pipeline to connect it to the national transmission network.
Under the first tender for drilling new wells and building compressor stations, worth an estimated 133.7 million levs ($73.5 million/68.4 million euro), Bulgartransgaz amended its earlier decision and awarded the contract to the Exalo Drilling Chiren consortium, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The change was necessary because the initial winner of that tender, the Chiren Drilling 2022 consortium, informed the gas grid operator earlier this year that it will be unable to complete the required works within the required deadline.
Bulgartransgaz first launched in March 2022 a public procurement procedure to nearly double the storage capacity of Chiren to 1 billion cubic metres (bcm). The company restarted the tenders in August last year after Bulgaria's competition authority halted the earlier procedure following a complaint to the CPC by local company Nova Gas 2021. As many as nine bidders submitted offers under the tenders worth some 518 million levs in total.
Exalo Drilling Chiren is made up of Bulgarian civil engineering group Glavbolgarstroy, its international subsidiary, and Bulgarian private company Gas Project Development.
Under the second tender, which relates to the construction of a 41-kilometre pipeline to link Chiren to the national gas grid at Butan in northwestern Bulgaria, Bulgartransgaz selected the Stroygazsystem consortium. The latter features Bulgarian companies Glavbolgarstroy and Protracing. The investor group was picked out of a shortlist of three bidders, including Bulgarian-Turkish consortium Infra Expert-Vemak and Chiren KS. The tender is worth an estimated 83.9 million levs, with six participants in total having submitted final offers.
"Supplying the required natural gas volumes for the country from alternative sources, including LNG, has increased the need for expansion of the gas storage facility in order to increase the reserves and secure the energy gas sector," Bulgartransgaz said. Adequate gas storage, withdrawal and injection capacity is essential for the successful entry into the local market of alternative natural gas sources, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), the company added.
In January, Bulgartransgaz signed a contract worth up to 297.8 million levs with the Tech Energy Expansion consortium for the expansion of above-ground infrastructure at Chiren.
In January 2022, the European Commission granted 78 million euro ($83.85 million) to Bulgartransgaz to fund the expansion of the gas storage facility, which is seen as crucial for the security of gas supply in the Southeast European (SEE) region as the EU weans itself off Russian energy sources.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)