October 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz has inked a 350.8 million levs ($196.0 million/179.4 million euro) contract for construction of two compressor stations with a German-Bulgarian consortium on October 3, the energy ministry said on Thursday.
The two compressor stations - in Provadiya and Rasovo, in the northeastern and southwestern part of the country, respectively, will be built by a consortium comprising Germany's Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen, and Bulgaria's Glavbolgarstroy and Glavbolgarstroy International, the ministry said in a statement.
The tender for awarding the contract also attracted interest from a consortium of local company Klimatronik, Belarus-based construction company Alvora, Ukraine's Poltavaspezmontage and Spanish infrastructure consulting company TEC Cuatro.
The compressor aggregates of the future compressor stations will be manufactured by US-based Solar Turbines. The Provadya compressor station, located in Montana region, will have three 12 MW aggregators, while Nova Provadya compressor station, in Varna region, will have four 10MW aggregators, the ministry added.
In July Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court dismissed a request for suspension of the tender procedure filed by Romania-based piping systems provider J. Christof E&P Services. The court upheld an earlier decision issued by the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).
According to information published by the CPC, in its complaint J. Christof E&P Services objected to clarifications provided by Bulgartransgaz in relation to questions raised by potential participants in the procedure. However, the court ruled out that there are no legitimate reasons for suspension of the tender procedure, as complaints against any decisions, actions or lack of actions by the contracting authority, with the exception of a decision for awarding a contract, can not result in suspension.
The tender, which was launched in April, also envisages investment project design and supply of materials and equipment.
The two compressor stations are needed in order to build a leg of TurkStream gas pipeline through Bulgaria.
The offshore section of the TurkStream pipeline stretching 930 km across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey consists of two parallel strings with annual throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres of gas each. One string is intended for consumers in Turkey, while the second will carry gas to customers in Europe.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)