BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 10. The ICGB, an independent transmission operator, which is responsible for the commercial operation of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), is about to announce two new auctions for free capacity for the month of December, the ICGB told Trend.
According to the source, the company will open an auction for firm forward monthly capacity in the direction Greece-Bulgaria on November 21.
"At the end of the month - on November 29, an auction for interruptible reverse flow capacity (in the opposite direction Bulgaria-Greece) will be announced," the company said.
Within the past month, the first new user of the gas interconnector Greece-Bulgaria was registered, the source noted.
"The company Axpo Bulgaria EAD EAD (part of Axpo Group, Switzerland) has successfully gone through all the steps of the registration process and is now enabled to participate in all capacity auctions that ICGB announces on both platforms. As a transmission operator, ICGB continues discussions with all traders who are interested in booking free capacity in the IGB pipeline," the company added.
As the ICGB noted, currently, the quantities of natural gas being transported through the IGB provide nearly 1/3 of Bulgaria's internal consumption since the beginning of the heating season.
IGB connects Bulgaria with the Southern Gas Corridor and will enable secure supplies from a variety of sources to several countries in Southeast and Central Europe, including Moldova and Ukraine.
The pipeline is set to transport 1 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas per year to Bulgaria. Its capacity is 3 billion cubic meters with the possibility of expanding to 5 billion cubic meters per year.
The opening ceremony of the IGB was held in Greece's Komotini on July 8, while the inauguration ceremony was held in Bulgaria on October 1, 2022.
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