PM Borisssov: On January 1 next year, Bulgaria will achieve full diversification of energy suppliers

"On January 1 next year, Bulgaria will receive Azeri gas. In this way we will achieve full diversification of energy suppliers," Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on November 16, Together with Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, he checked the progress on the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection (IGB).

The Prime Minister stressed that the work on the project is at full speed.

"We have done what we had to do, so that there is not a day of delay on this extremely important geostrategic project - from Alexandroupolis to our part, we have 20% there so that from South to North, there can be gas flow - 100% diversification ", pointed out the Prime Minister.

So far, the delivered quantity of linear pipes under the project is 159 km. The welded pipes are nearly 72 km, and the total laid pipes along the route under construction are over 11 km. A total of 440 people work for the construction of the interconnector.

The IGB gas pipeline will connect to the Greek national gas transmission system and the Trans-Adriatic TAP gas pipeline in the area of ​​Komotini (Greece) and to the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in the area of ​​Stara Zagora.

The start of the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection was given on May 22, 2019 personally by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.

The interconnector is one of the seven priority projects for security and competitiveness of the energy market in the European Union. It is also extremely important from the point of view of ensuring diversification of gas sources and supplies for Bulgaria and the region of Southeast Europe.

It will lead to a real diversification of natural gas sources - through it Bulgaria will receive Azerbaijani natural gas from the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. In addition, Bulgaria will be able to receive supplies through the terminal of Alexandroupolis for liquefied natural gas from USA, Qatar, Algeria , Israel, Egypt and others.

The gas connection between Bulgaria and Greece is 182 km long, of which 150 km are on Bulgarian territory. It starts from Komotini, Greece and connects to the Bulgarian gas transmission system of Stara Zagora. Its technical capacity is from 3 to 5 billion cubic metres per year. The total cost of the project is 220m euros.