Greece, Bulgaria To Fast Track Construction Of Gas Interconnector - Prime Minister

Greece is working to expedite the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector (IGB), for the issue of energy systems integration appears to be vital to both Greece and Bulgaria, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the Bulgarian delegation on Tuesday

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2022) Greece is working to expedite the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector (IGB), for the issue of energy systems integration appears to be vital to both Greece and Bulgaria, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the Bulgarian delegation on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Mitsotakis held talks with a delegation headed by Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Financial Minister Assen Vassilev, and Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov.

"We are ready to strongly support Bulgaria to overcome what we regard as a short-term crisis. Certainly, we are working together to accomplish the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector (IGB) as soon as possible, since it is especially important for Bulgaria to diversify the sources of gas supplies," Mitsotakis said.

Mitsotakis noted that gas supplies may suffer due to sanctions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine, and because of possible retaliatory Russian sanctions.

"We are also ready to work with Greece to help it with the energy supply issue in order to guarantee the absence of electricity disruptions, and also to prepare all plans that we intend to discuss within the context of bilateral cooperation, for example, the vitally important for Europe issue of a North-South connection," Vassilev said.

On December 20, 2021, Mitsotakis announced a delay of IGB construction by several months amid supply shortages due to COVID-19.

The 113-mile long interconnector was designed to link up to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), bringing Azerbaijani gas from Greece to Italy in order to reduce reliance on Russian gas, but the deadline for construction at the beginning of 2021, as well as the deadline for putting the interconnector into operation on July 1, 2021, was not met.

The interconnector's projected capacity of 3 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) can be increased, if necessary, by up to 5 bcm/y to follow the market. IGB will also be connected to the floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) in the town of Alexandroupolis, thus enabling a supply of Egyptian gas and eventually breaking the monopoly of Russian gas in Bulgaria.