Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.23
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The project for construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria, will receive a grant worth 39 million euros from the European Structural Fund Financing (ESIF), Teodora Georgieva, Executive Officer of ICGB AD (project company) on the Bulgarian side, told Trend.
She noted that the funds will be allocated to Bulgaria under the Operational Program Innovation and Competitiveness.
The allocation of the funds was subject to the amendment of the Operational Program Innovation and Competitiveness (OPIC), and the Inclusion of ICGB as an eligible beneficiary, as the program has been adopted in 2014 with a predetermined list of beneficiaries, explained Georgieva.
“In order to initiate any actions for the amendment of the project the Managing authority in Bulgaria and Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission, responsible for the approval of the projects and the disbursement of the funds to the Member States, appointed an external consultant Jaspers and requested a number of documents and reports by the ICGB including a cost-benefit analysis. Based on the preliminary evaluation of the project it was considered eligible and contributing to the targets set by the Operational Program,” said the executive director.
Georgieva noted that on September 19, 2018 the Council of Ministers in Bulgaria approved the Amendment of the OPIC and an official proposal for the amendment of the program was submitted to DG Regio. DG Regio decision and the official approval of the project is expected in Q4 2018, she added.
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 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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