Bulgaria's government has received six indicative offers to use capacity of
the gas interconnector that is to be built between Bulgaria and Greece, Energy
Minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said.
These include Bulgaria's national gas supplier Bulgargaz, Greece's DEPA,
Italy's Edison, Azerbaijan's SOCAR, US-based Noble Energy (working at Cyprus's
offshore gas deposit), and Greek utility company Gastrade.
Petkova, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio, has told reporters the interconnector's
capacity booked through queries, amounting to some 4 billion cubic meters,
already exceeds the projected real capacity it is designed to have after
completion.
Bulgaria and Greece are currently finalizing the first stage of building the Interconnector
Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which authorities in Sofia hope will provide access to
the future Southern Gas Corridor and reduce dependence on Russian supplies.
Due to continuing interest, the deadline for indicative queries has been
extended to April 08, and options are being explored by the two countries to
boost the planned capacity to 5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, up from 3
billion cubic meters envisaged in the initial agreement.
By mid-2016, the second stage of the project, which includes the submission of
binding offers, should also be completed.
IGB is "related to the security of supplies, a project that is extremely
important in terms of market development", Petkova has also said.
The IGB project is being carried out by the Bulgaria-registered company ICGB, a
joint venture of the Bulgarian Energy Holding and a IGI Poseidon, a company of
Italian gas supplier Edison and Greece's DEPA.
Construction is to begin this October.
(www.novinite.com)
