BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 7. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will save gas supplies in case of a major energy crisis in Europe, said Bulgarian minister of energy Alexander Nikolov, Trend reports via Bulgarian media.
He pointed out that this will be done by intercepting quantities of gas supplied from Azerbaijan to Croatia from the Western Balkans via the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) and their supply to Bulgaria.
“In this way, there is a chance that we will be able to replace the quantities that may not come from Russia, but they will be at least 40 percent more expensive,” noted Nikolov.
The minister explained that the deals would be swaps and that Croatia would receive the same amount of natural gas from other sources, including through their LNG terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk. Regarding the risks of suspending supplies to Bulgaria, he said that when the EU makes a joint decision to suspend oil and gas imports from Russia, then the details of the alternative supply plan will be announced.
Bulgaria is set to receive 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Azerbaijan via the Interconnector Greece-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.
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