The President of the EC and heads of state welcomed the first quantities of natural gas delivered through the interconnector Greece – Bulgaria (IGB) during an official event in Sofia; the gas pipeline became operational on the first day of the new gas year – October 1, 2022.
The quantities of gas through the interconnector arrived at the beginning of the gas day from the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP). IGB successfully connected the national gas transmission networks of Greece and Bulgaria at Komotini and Stara Zagora points. The total capacity with which the gas pipeline started operation is 3 billion cubic meters per year.
The interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria has the possibility of increasing the capacity to 5 billion cubic meters per year, which will also allow a reverse flow in the direction Stara Zagora – Komotini. For this purpose, it is planned to build a compressor station in Komotini, which will be ready in 2024, simultaneously with the commissioning of the natural gas terminal next to the Greek city of Alexandroupolis.
Currently the reserved capacity on IGB is 1.57 billion cubic meters under a long-term agreement for 25 years. The remaining capacity will be offered at auctions on two leading platforms – PRISMA and RBG. The operator of the gas pipeline, ICGB will be auctioning available capacity on the IGB pipeline starting from gas day October 1st 2022
All auctions will be performed according to the ENTSOG Auction Calendar as follows:
For the interconnection point at Komotini between the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the IGB pipeline, ICGB will be offering the following capacity products on PRISMA:
- Firm Forward Flow entry capacity
- Interruptible Reverse Flow exit capacity
For the interconnection point at Stara Zagora between the network of Bulgartransgaz and the IGB pipeline, ICGB will be offering the following capacity products on RBP:
- Firm Forward Flow exit capacity
- Interruptible Reverse Flow entry capacity
All interested parties are invited to register according to the procedure published on How to become a network user.
Source: 3e-news
