Bulgaria plans to increase the state guarantee for the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB Pipeline) project by 30 million euro ($34.2 million) to 110 million euro, Bulgaria's energy minister said on Thursday.

The final investment decision on the interconnector with Greece is expected to be signed within a month as several technical details remain to be sorted out, which will take two to three weeks, Temenuzhka Petkova said at the Fourth EU–Southeast Europe Summit.

The gas link between Bulgaria and Romania might be ready in the beginning of 2016, Petkova also said, adding that a 2 km stretch of the pipeline along the Danube riverbed remains to be completed.

The 25 km gas link will connect the southern Romanian village of Comasca with Marten, in northern Bulgaria, under the Danube river. The project includes the construction of a 15.4 km overland pipeline in Bulgaria and another 7.5 km overland in Romania.

The IGB Pipeline, which will be 182 km long, will link the northeastern Greek city of Komotini with Stara Zagora in Bulgaria. It is estimated to cost 220 million euro. The gas link will carry 3 billion cu m of natural gas annually in its initial stage and will have a maximum capacity of 5 billion cu m per year. It will eventually be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, carrying natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe through Greece.

The IGB Pipeline is an essential part of a vertical gas corridor connecting Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, which the three countries have committed to develop.

Source: SeeNews