ICGB completes Greece-Bulgaria link, receives certification

An exterior view of the Interconnector Greece Bulgaria natural gas pipeline. (Photo: Reuters.)

Construction on the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline was completed last month and its operator received a final certification, allowing it to act as an independent transmission operator. The company became the second independent transmission operator in Bulgaria.

ICGB’s CEO on the Bulgarian side, Teodora Georgieva, told media later in July that the company intended to offer interested parties all unbooked capacity on the pipeline.

The IGB pipeline has an initial capacity of 105.9 Bcf/y (3 × 109 m3/y), of which 55.4 Bcf/y (1.57 × 109 m3/y) has been secured under long-term contracts of up to 25 years. Linden Energy has also said it would use 10% of the pipeline’s capacity following its acquisition of Bulgaria’s Overgas, for which it is currently seeking regulatory approval.

The remaining capacity will be offered to all interested parties. If the market shows interest in volumes above IGB’s initial capacity, this could encourage ICGB to expedite efforts to expand the pipeline.

As of late July, there were still certain final steps that still needed to be completed before the IGB pipeline could be placed into service.