Greece-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector Capacity Booked at 94%
The capacity of the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector has been booked at almost 94%, Teodora Georgieva, Executive Director for Bulgaria at the ICGB pipeline operator, said in an interview for Azerbaijan's Trend News Agency, published on Monday. Georgieva believes that for a pipeline that was launched just under six months ago, this is a tremendous success.
She said that, currently, the main source of supplies for the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector is gas flowing through the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. "Our project is also in synergy with planned and existing LNG terminals in the region," she explained.
"About half of the 3 bcm/y capacity of the pipeline - 1.57 bcm/y is booked under long-term contracts for up to 25 years. The rest in terms of free capacity is offered on the PRISMA and RBP platforms," she said.
Georgieva noted that the natural gas market in the region and Europe as a whole is very dynamic right now, given the ongoing war in Ukraine and the measures that European countries are taking to overcome its consequences.
"As a result of these circumstances, in the third month since the start of commercial operation of the interconnector, the capacity of the gas pipeline was utilized above 90 percent. We expect that this trend will persist and continue in 2023 and possibly in 2024, but ultimately this will be determined by the needs and demand for natural gas of the countries in the region," said the Executive Director.
The company which built the interconnector is still carrying out some finishing work, which does not have direct impact on the operation of the facility, Georgieva said. "These so-called secondary activities do not interfere with the smooth functioning and safety of the gas pipeline," she noted.
The Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector has immensely changed South-East Europe's energy map, Georgieva said. "This goes into two aspects - impact on a national level for the two host countries Greece and Bulgaria, and international, concerning our neighbors and the wider region of South-East Europe." According to the Executive Director, both Bulgaria and Greece were able to strengthen their roles on the energy map after the interconnector's successful launch in October last year.
The project was initially believed to be a highly relevant infrastructure both for the two host countries and the wider region all the way back in 2009, when the idea for it was established. "This is certainly a breath of fresh air for the market at a time when energy independence and security of supply have become so crucial. The timing of IGB's launch could not have been better in that aspect and I am certain that the effects of this project and its strategic location so close to TAP, TANAP, the Trans-Balkan Pipeline, and a few LNG terminals will be felt even stronger in the future," she added.
BTA
