BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 24. The site of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) is proposed to be declared strategic in Bulgaria, Trend reports with reference to Bulgarian media.
The initiative was put forward by the country’s energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
Reportedly, the sites of ICGB, the project company, as well as the dispatch center in Sofia and the reserve center in the Haskovo region, are declared strategic, according to the draft decree.
The inclusion of the IGB as a strategic site will allow the State Agency for National Security to control the physical protection of the sites and to counter terrorist threats, to control the information protection.
Nikolov’s report says that the interconnector connects the gas systems of Bulgaria and Greece and provides diversification of the sources and routes of gas supplies to Bulgaria and Southeast Europe. It is of paramount importance given the war in Ukraine.
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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