BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 8
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Manual welding works on the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) are expected to start by mid-May, executive director of ICGB project company Teodora Georgieva told Trend.
"Certification activities related to welding activities - automatic, semi-automatic are carried out on the territory of the Hellenic Republic. Manual welding certification is completed. We are awaiting 3.2 certificates according EN 10204 for the welding consumables. Upon receiving all necessary paperwork, manual welding activities could commence," she said.
Georgieva noted that currently, due to the complicated situation in relation to the spread of COVID-19, there is a reorganization of the IGB project implementation activities so that project work continues despite the unforeseen circumstances.
"Approximately 20 percent of the Detailed Engineering has been completed so far. The emphasis is put on the linear part (pipeline) in order to allow start of construction in several spreads simultaneously as initially planned," said the executive director.
Georgieva went on to add that in both Greece and Bulgaria RoW clearance activities have been carried out.
"For Bulgarian territory - 25 900m and 1400m pipe stringing are completed. RoW clearance and acceptance of line pipes (Milestone 2) are ongoing in Greece. As of 12.04, there are 8530m RoW completed for Greek territory," she said.
The IGB Project (Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB AD, registered in Bulgaria in 2011, with shareholders BEH EAD (50%) and IGI Poseidon (50%). The co-shareholder IGI Poseidon is a company, registered in Greece, with shareholders being the Greek public gas corporation DEPA SA (50%) and the Italian energy group Edison SpA (50 percent).
In accordance with its Statute, ICGB AD will be the owner of the IGB gas pipeline and will finance its realization, will allocate its capacity and will receive the revenue from the transportation of natural gas.
The IGB gas pipeline will be connected with the Greek national gas transmission system in the area of Komotini and with the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora. The planned length of the pipeline is 182 km, the pipeline diameter will be 32" and the projected capacity will be up to 3 bcm/y in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. Depending on the interest from the market and the capacities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the pipeline is designed for increasing its capacity up to 5 bcm/y for following up the market evolution thus allowing physical reverse flow (from Bulgaria to Greece) with the additional installation of a compressor station. A Memorandum for cooperation between ICGB AD and TAP AG has been signed concerning joint actions in relation to future connection between the IGB pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
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