Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.14
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The ICGB AD company, engaged in construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) may negotiate for more favorable loan conditions, Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said in an interview with Trend.
“For several consecutive years, a sovereign guarantee for IGB project of 110 million euros of the budget of Bulgaria has been confirmed, which is an unambiguous sign of the importance the Bulgarian government gives to the implementation of the interconnector. This guarantee allows the project company to negotiate for more favorable loan conditions than the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) offer,” said the minister.
She noted that the total investment cost of the project is 240 million euros.
“The project has an approved grant of 45 million euros under the European Energy Program for Recovery. A procedure related to the possibility of approval by the European Commission of a transfer of 39 million euros from the Interconnector Bulgaria-Serbia project to the Interconnector Greece- Bulgaria is currently ongoing. These funds are under the Innovation and Competitiveness Operational Program,” said Petkova.
Bulgaria’s energy minister added that the project is also expected to receive funding from the Greek Structural Funds in the amount of about 12 million euros.
Talking about the project’s implementation, Petkova said that actual construction activities will begin around the middle of the current year.
“The interconnector with Greece is one of the key projects that will help diversify energy supplies in Europe. Since the project had been delayed for years, during our previous government mandate we signed the Final Investment Decision that made the implementation of the project irreversible. Now we are working intensively to build the interconnector through which we will have access to new sources of natural gas,” she added.
The minister noted that there is an ongoing tender procedure for the selection of an owner’s engineer and a pipe supplier for IGB.
“The tender procedure for EPC contractor is forthcoming and actual construction activities will begin around the middle of the current year. We plan to start commercial exploitation of the interconnector in 2020,” said Petkova.
IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
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