BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 18. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis and his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev have highlighted the crucial importance of putting into operation the Bulgaria-Greece gas interconnection, Trend reports with reference to Hellenic Business Council in Bulgaria.
The IGB project is of key importance for increasing security of supply and for ensuring diversification of natural gas sources for Bulgaria and the region of Southeast Europe. At the regional level, IGB will provide access to the gas transmission network for Bulgarian municipalities and regions that didn’t have an option for connectivity. The interconnector with Greece is an entirely new route for the transmission of natural gas to Europe and will give Bulgaria and the region access to supplies from new sources. The project will connect the country with the Southern Gas Corridor and has excellent synergy with other major energy projects such as TAP, TANAP, EastMed and the LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis.
"With the increasing need to reduce energy reliance on the Russian Federation, we discussed the diversification of energy sources and transport routes. Once completed, the interconnector will be able to be connected to the already operational BRUA gas pipeline and thus make the Vertical Gas Corridor, which is of crucial importance, to become operational," Iohannis said during a joint news conference with Radev.
Iohannis added he also talked about the need to have the interconnector functioning as soon as possible with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit to Romania and that there are promises that by the end of this year the interconnector will be operational.
"On the other hand, we are working on other alternative gas supply routes and we are in advanced negotiations with several sources. It is clear that by the beginning of the winter of 2022 and 2023 we must have viable alternatives that provide us with gas for the coming winter," he said.
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