BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 24
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The first batch of pipelines, which will be used to build the Greek section of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), arrived at the port of Alexandroupolis, Trend reports citing Greek media.
“Procedures for implementation of IGB project continue, despite the general situation caused by COVID-19. In particular, The pipes are 47 kilometers long and consist of a 32-inch diameter, three-layer polyethylene outer coating. The pipeline has a starting point in Komotini and ends in the town of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Its total length is 182 kilometers of which 31 kilometers are in Greek territory and the rest in Bulgarian, while the total cost of construction and operation of the pipeline is estimated at 240 million euros,” reads the report.
The pipes for IGB are produced by Greek company Corinth Pipeworks.
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 Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria project envisages a two-stage development.
In the first stage, the pipeline capacity will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 2.7 billion cubic meters will be offered for the long-term market, the remaining share of 0.3 billion cubic meters in the short term.
In a second phase, also depending on the evolution of the market, the capacity of the pipeline can be increased to 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas thanks to the addition of a compression station: 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas 0.5 billion cubic meters of short-term gas will be offered for long-term products.
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