BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.7. The remaining financial trances for the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas, are expected to be received by late 2022, the ICGB AD, the project company, told Trend.
‘ICGB, which is now fully certified as an independent system operator and will be operating the IGB pipeline commercially upon launch, has not yet received the full funds set for the project. Final requests are expected to be claimed in Q4. That being said, ICGB expects to receive the remaining financial tranches by the end of 2022,” said the company.
The total approved budget for the IGB pipeline is EUR 240 million and it is secured through a long-term loan from the European Investment Bank (EUR 110 m), the European energy programme for recovery (EUR 45 m), the Operational Programme Innovation and Competitiveness (EUR 39 m) and capital participation of the shareholders – in this case the Bulgarian Energy Holding and IGI Poseidon
The commercial operation of IGB is of key importance to fortify the security of supply and to ensure the diversification of natural gas sources for Bulgaria and the region of South-Eastern Europe. The project connects Bulgaria to the Southern Gas Corridor and will enable secure supplies from various sources to a number of CSEE countries, including Moldova and Ukraine.
The IGB project is of key importance for increasing security of supply and for ensuring diversification of natural gas sources for Bulgaria and the region of Southeast Europe. At the regional level, IGB will provide access to the gas transmission network for Bulgarian municipalities and regions that didn’t have an option for connectivity. The interconnector with Greece is an entirely new route for the transmission of natural gas to Europe and will give Bulgaria and the region access to supplies from new sources. The project will connect the country with the Southern Gas Corridor and has excellent synergy with other major energy projects such as TAP, TANAP, EastMed and the LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis.