ICGB, which builds the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) to supply Azerbaijani natural gas to Bulgaria, has successfully used the first tranche of a 30 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Report informs.
The total cost of EIB financing for the project is 110 million euros, which is guaranteed by the Bulgarian state.
This unconditional achievement results from numerous elaborate preparations and joint efforts of the company and the EIB, and the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BES): "The use of such a source requires several strict conditions to be met in advance."
The country's Energy Holding signed the loan agreement with the EIB last year, and the project has been fully funded. The interconnector's total cost, which will unite Bulgaria and Greece's gas transmission networks, is about 240 million euros. Of this, 110 million euros are EIB loans, and 39 million euros are grants. The plan has also been allocated 45 million euros through the European Energy Program.
Konstantinos Karayannakos, head of the IGB's project in Greece, said that the gas pipeline implementation would increase the security of gas supplies, and the project will lead to a real diversification of sources: "We are confident that the project will be successful, and obtaining the first tranche of the loan is a serious and significant step forward. It is possible due to the persistent efforts of all parties."
According to Theodora Georgieva, manager for the gas pipeline in Bulgaria, all conditions for the loan use have been supplied, especially the current complicated epidemiological situation and the team's multinational profile working on introducing the IGB interconnector: "Progress has proven that there are no insurmountable obstacles when there is a common strategic cause, such as the IGB gas pipeline."
The IGB envisages natural gas transportation to Bulgaria produced within the second phase of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Through this pipeline, which will be connected to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Bulgaria will import 1 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Azerbaijan. Thus, the state company Bulgargaz EAD has signed a contract with the Shah Deniz consortium to purchase this gas from the Shah Deniz-2 field. At the expense of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria will provide 25-30 percent of its gas needs. Construction work on the IGB will be completed in the second half of next year.
A total of 150 km of the 182-km pipeline will pass through Bulgaria. Its annual capacity is estimated at 3-5 billion cubic meters.