Bulgarian Minister: Construction of IGB is Irreversible Process

The implementation of the interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) that will provide delivery of Azerbaijani gas to South East Asia has already been settled. It is an irreversible process.

This was stated by Energy Minister of Bulgaria Temenuzhka Petkova at a round table on "Risks and prospects for the energy security of South-Eastern Europe", reports Azer News.

"The construction of the IGB is an irreversible process, since all the key government procurement for the project has already been launched," said Minister adding that the project is of great importance for the diversification of sources of supply of natural gas, not only for Bulgaria, but also for the entire region she noted.

She recalled that European Commission identified the project as one of the top seven energy priorities.

European Commission has already confirmed that the IGB project complies with European Union guidelines for State Assistance.

The measures approved by the Commission will support the construction and operation of a cross-border gas interconnector (called IGB) between Greece (Komotini) and Bulgaria (Stara Zagora). The gas interconnector is designed to transport 3 billion bcm per year of natural gas from Greece to Bulgaria by 2021. Later, the capacity may reach 5 bcm per year.

The IGB project was supported by Greece and Bulgaria governments within Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2009. The 185 kilometer interconnector is designed to transport 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Greece to Bulgaria by 2021.

One billion cubic meters of gas produced by Shah Deniz in 2020 will be delivered to Bulgaria per year via IGB. "Bulgargaz EAD" signed 25-year agreement gas purchase in September 2013 within Shah Deniz-2.

The total...

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