SOFIA (Bulgaria), September 28 (SeeNews) – Separate tenders for the construction of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (ICGB) and for the supply of line pipes will be launched in November, Bulgarian energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova said on Thursday.
Last week, Bulgaria issued the building permit for its section of the gas interconnection, while Greece has yet to grant a permit for the construction of its stretch of the gas link, Temenuzhka Petkova said in a statement, following a meeting of the Central East South Europe Gas Connectivity (CESEC) High Level Group in Bucharest.
A public procurement contract for a consultant engineer for the ICGB project is expected to be awarded in October, according to Petkova.
The IGB pipeline will connect the Greek gas transmission system in the area of Komotini to the Bulgarian gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora.
The planned length of the pipeline is 182 km and the projected capacity will be up to 3 billion cu m per year in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. Depending on interest from the market and the capacities of the neighbouring gas transmission systems, the capacity of the pipeline can be increased up to 5 billion cu m per year, thus allowing for physical reverse flow from Bulgaria to Greece with the additional installation of a compressor station.
The gas link is estimated to cost 220 million euro ($241.8 million). The company has secured a sovereign guarantee of 110 million euro under the annual state budget act, which gives potential for assuring of loan financing under preferable conditions.
The IGB project is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB, in which state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and Greece-registered IGI Poseidon hold equal shares. Greek public gas corporation DEPA and Italian energy group Edison own 50% each of IGI Poseidon.
($ = 0.8358 euro)