BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.30. The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) will require under two years expand its capacity from 3 billion cubic meters to 5 billion cubic meters, Teodora Georgieva, executive director of ICGB AD project company from Bulgaria said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Under two years – reaching 5 bcm/y is planned for early 2024. This will be achieved through the construction of a compressor station at Komotini – something that the Greek national operator DESFA has already confirmed in its 10-year plan. Initially, this was an option for a later stage of IGB’s implementation when there was enough substantial market interest, but the recent events in Ukraine, the inability to foresee the end of the war and Europe’s efforts to eliminate the dependence on Russian natural gas have boosted the market interest in IGB immensely. We’re looking at options to increase capacity earlier on and to reach the Western Balkans and Moldova and Ukraine as well through the Trans-Balkan Pipeline. The interconnector will only become more significant in the future,” she said.
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.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn