Executive Director of ICGB, a joint venture company of Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and IGI Poseidon, in which Greek Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) and Italian Edison hold equal stakes, and the independent transmission operator of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection (IGB pipeline), Teodora Georgieva said that the capacity of gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria (so-called IGB pipeline) has been booked at almost 94 %.
Georgieva said that, currently, the main source of supplies for the IGB pipeline is gas flowing through the Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipeline. About half of the 3 billion cubic meters per year capacity of the pipeline, namely 1.57 billion 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 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 pipeline, its capacity was utilized above 90 %. ICGB expects 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.
Commercial operation of the interconnector with annual capacity of 3 billion cubic meters of gas started on 1 October. The gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria can have its capacity increased to 5 billion cubic meters, which will also allow for reverse flow in the direction of Stara Zagora – Komotini. This requires the construction of a compressor station in Komotini, which will be ready in 2024, at the same time as the commissioning of the LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli in northern Greece.
