ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece and Bulgaria on Friday completed the long-delayed construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries in hopes of reducing their dependence on Russian gas.
The Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB) will transport gas from the town of Komotini in northern Greece to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria and will be connected to another gas pipeline carrying gas from Azerbaijan.
The 180-kilometre gas pipeline, whose initial capacity will be 3 billion cubic meters (bcm) and which is expected to be increased later to 5 billion m3, is expected to be operational in early August, according to Greek and Bulgarian officials.
“This interconnector will transform the energy map of the region,” assured outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov about the gas pipeline, which cost 220 million euros. His Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said the completion of this “energy bridge” was an “important moment for the Balkans and the whole of Europe”.
The Russian gas giant Gazprom interrupted its deliveries to Bulgaria, a member of the European Union, on April 27 because of Sofia’s refusal to pay in rubles.
Bulgaria consumes about 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year, more than 90% of which comes from Russia. Greece’s annual gas consumption reached around 7 billion cubic meters last year.
(Tsvetelia Tsolova and Renee Maltezou report; French version Elitsa Gadeva, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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