BAKU. Azerbaijan. May 26. The serious delay in the construction of the interconnector Greece – Bulgaria (IGB) has been overcome, Alexander Nikolov, Bulgaria’s energy minister, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“As early as the start of the war in Ukraine, the current Bulgarian government predicted the subsequent limitation or suspension of gas supplies and put active efforts to increase energy security. Firstly, the serious delay in the construction of the interconnector Greece – Bulgaria has been overcome. The interconnector is due to be fully completed by mid-year and enter into commercial operation several months later,” he said.
The minister noted that this pipeline provides access not only to our country, but also to the entire region, to alternative supplies from the Caspian region, the Eastern Mediterranean and others.
“After the start of operation of the interconnector the agreed with Azerbaijan 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year will also be delivered through this route. You are probably aware of the decision of the Bulgarian side to participate as shareholder in the LNG terminal near Alexandroupolis, Greece. Two weeks ago, a ceremony was held to inaugurate the start of the works on the terminal which is expected to be completed by the end of next year. Although the operation of the LNG terminal is a solution to the region's energy security in the medium term, we are confident that this solution is useful and we are working actively to implement it. Thanks to these efforts, there is currently no restriction on the consumption of natural gas in Bulgaria despite the halted supplies by Gazprom,” added the minister.
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