BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.19
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The length of the welded sections of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) reaches 90 km, and over 50 km have already been lowered and backfilled, ICGB AD, a project company, told Trend.
“At the same time, the implementation of the other key activities - welding, preparation of field pipe bending and field joints coating, lowering of the welded sections, trenching and backfilling continue,” said the company.
“The main priority for ICGB and its contractors continues to be the health and wellbeing of all employees involved in the project. The global spread of COVID-19 remains a major challenge to the fieldwork process, with all employees undergoing regular testing and mandatory quarantine if positive. This inevitably affects the ability to maintain the steady pace of work set out in the project's preliminary plan. The project company ICGB and the contractors engaged in the implementation of IGB are working together to achieve optimization of activities in order to accelerate the implementation of certain processes and the completion of IGB despite the difficult situation.”
The total value of the interconnector that will connect the gas transmission networks of Bulgaria and Greece, is nearly EUR 240 million, provided from shareholders' capital, a loan from the EIB of EUR 110 million with a state guarantee and grants of EUR 39 million under the Operational Program "Innovation and Competitiveness 2014-2020". For the purposes of the project, EUR 45 million have been provided from the European Energy Program for Recovery. IGB project envisages the construction of a gas interconnector that will link the gas transmission systems of Greece and Bulgaria. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182.6 km, and its capacity for gas transmission is 3 billion cubic meters per year with the option to reach 5 billion cubic meters.
The route of the gas pipeline is divided into 7 main lots, the shortest being 9.55 km long and the longest - 71.90 km. 106 km of the route in Bulgaria will be completed with automatic welding, and the remaining 45 km - by manual welding.
IGB will provide the shortest and the most competitive route along the Southern Gas Corridor for bringing natural gas to Bulgaria.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn