Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.17
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
No fulfillment plan will be adopted for the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria, Teodora Georgieva, executive officer at ICGB AD joint venture company, the project’s operator, told Trend.
Earlier, it was planned to sign Project Fulfillment Plan between IGB AD and the European Union (EU). This plan included upcoming major steps for ensuring the start of the pipeline’s construction, amendment of the Innovations and Competitiveness (OPIC) program by including ICGB as a beneficiary of grant from Greece, exemption, tender launching procedures, etc.
“There are no discussions anymore between IGB and EU for signing the fulfillment plan. Alternatively, we will use the European Presidency [of Bulgaria] to achieve a key progress on the project and make the project irreversible,” said Georgieva.
Irreversible means to get authorization from the EU Directorate-General for Energy for a maximum rate of derogation for exemption, to receive additional grant, to use the state guarantee and to have a positive signs for the state aid clearance from EU, she explained.
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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