BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 28. The construction of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) from Komotini (Greece) to Stara Zagora (Bulgaria) is 92 percent complete, Executive Director of ICGB AD, a project company responsible for the design, construction and implementation of IGB, Teodora Georgieva said, Trend reports citing the Bulgarian media.
According to her, the length of the IGB is nearly 182 kilometers, out of which 31 kilometers run through Greece, and 151 kilometers pass through Bulgaria's territory.
"The contractor has undertaken to fully prepare the interconnector by the end of June, and testing of the pipeline will begin in July. The company is making every effort to make the IGB ready for the heating season," Georgieva added.
The IGB project enables the transmission of gas and supplies from new sources, making it key to Bulgaria's energy security and part of real diversification of its gas source. The capacity of the project is three billion cubic meters with the option to reach five billion cubic meters. Half of the throughput capacity of the interconnector is already reserved. A contract has been signed for the supply of one billion cubic meters from Shah Deniz 2 based on a long-term contract with Bulgargaz.