site.btaPM Petkov Inspects Greece-Bulgaria Natural Gas Interconnector Near Komotini, Greece

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov inspected the construction site of the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector (IGB) near the Greek town of Komotini on Monday. Lena Borislavova, chef de cabinet to Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, was also there.

The Bulgarian delegation was met by Greek Environment and Energy Minister Konstantinos Skrekas. Both sides highlighted the importance of the project. 

Last week, Petkov inspected the construction of the IGB near Stara Zagora, Southern Bulgaria. 

IGB will link the natural gas transmission networks of the two neighbouring countries, thus providing access to the Southern Gas Corridor and a range of new gas sources. The pipeline will be 182 km long in total, most of it in Bulgarian territory. It will run through the municipalities of Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Dimitrovgrad and Kardjali and, among other benefits, it will allow gasification of all settlements in the area.

Petkov commented that the physical infrastructure is already in place and a hydrostatic pressure test is underway. "This means that we have made great progress, which confirms that more was done in the last three months than in the past year," he added. 

In his words, the completion of the project is very important for Bulgaria because the diversification of natural gas supplies means lower prices and lower pressure on prices. 

The Prime Minister said that Azeri gas will flow through the interconnector in September. 

Petkov added that if gas deliveries from Russia are interrupted, Bulgaria is ready with three options. IGB can bring to Bulgaria 3 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, as much as the country's total consumption. There are also the connections through Nea Mesemvria and through Turkey. "We will not cut off Gazprom in principle, we have no such idea, but when we enter these negotiations, we will know that we have more than one card in hand," Petkov said.