Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The possibility of Saudi Arabia’s investment in the Balkan gas hub project was discussed during a meeting between Bulgarian prime minister and Saudi foreign minister, Trend reports citing sofiaglobe.com.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov held talks with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Assaf on boosting co-operation in trade, investment and energy, the government information service said.
The two sides discussed the possibilities for investment by Saudi Arabia in the project to build the European gas hub “Balkan”.
Borissov said that the Balkan gas hub is important for energy security in the whole region of South Eastern Europe.
“Up to now, a feasibility study has been carried out for the gas distribution center, which examines several sources of natural gas deliveries – from Russia, from the Caspian region through the interconnector with Greece, from Romania, as well as possible local Black Sea extraction, where at present studies are being carried out,” he said.
Balkan Gas Hub would also transit and trade gas volumes from the Southern Gas Corridor and potential liquefied natural gas (LNG) sources. Bulgaria has secured one billion cubic meters a year of natural gas from Azerbaijan starting in 2020, while the main link to the Southern Gas Corridor, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) is progressing well.
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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