May 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Toplivo-2 has filed a complaint against the decision of the project company developing the Greece-Bulgaria gas link, to disqualify Toplivo-2 from the tender for supply of line pipes, the Bulgarian competition authority said.
Toplivo-2 submitted the complaint against ICGB's decision on Tuesday, according to data published by the Commission for Protection of Competition.
The anti-trust body provided no further details.
Toplivo-2 is fully owned by private investor Vasil Shtrakov, according to data from Bulgaria's commercial register.
Earlier this month, ICGB said it has selected Greece's Corinth Pipeworks Industry to supply line pipes for the project under a 58.2 million euro ($65.4 million) contract. Toplivo-2's technical proposal did not fully meet the requirements of the technical specification, according to ICGB.
"After a detailed technical evaluation, including on-site visits at each of the participants' factories, it was found that the technical proposal of the participant Corinth Pipeworks Industry S.A. fully complies with the technical specification, including demonstration of advantages that significantly enhance the minimum requirements of the Contracting Entity," ICGB said at the time.
The contract will have a one-year term, with first deliveries expected within four months of its signing.
The IGB pipeline, which has a total estimated cost of some 220 million euro, will connect the Greek gas transmission system in the area of Komotini to the Bulgarian gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora.
The planned length of the pipeline is 182 km and the projected capacity will be up to 3 billion cu m per year in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. Depending on interest from the market and the capacities of the neighbouring gas transmission systems, the capacity of the pipeline can be increased up to 5 billion cu m per year, thus allowing for physical reverse flow from Bulgaria to Greece with the additional installation of a compressor station.
The project is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB, in which state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and Greece-registered IGI Poseidon hold equal stakes. Greek public gas corporation DEPA and Italian energy group Edison own 50% each of IGI Poseidon.
($ = 0.8901 euro)