Energy minister: Bulgaria preparing to start construction of Vertical Corridor

Bulgaria sees new opportunities for further use of the partnership on the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), Bulgarian Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said at the 11th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 3rd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting, Report informs.

"I am pleased to announce that Bulgaria is preparing to start construction of the Vertical Corridor initiative. This will facilitate the transportation of additional gas volumes from the Southern Gas Corridor, as well as from liquefied gas terminals in Türkiye and Greece," Stankov said.

According to the minister, the project will increase the throughput capacity for gas imports on the Greek-Bulgarian border by 50% and double the export capacity towards Romania, adding 5 billion cubic meters of new capacity per year.

"I would also like to applaud our colleagues at the IGB (Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) for their plans to increase the annual capacity of the interconnector from 3.3 billion cubic meters to 5 billion cubic meters. I am confident that this capacity will be fully utilized thanks to supplies via Türkiye and Bulgaria," said Stankov.

The Vertical Corridor initiative (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine) envisages the creation of a gas supply route from terminals in the Eastern Mediterranean to Moldova and Ukraine. The Vertical Corridor system is expected to allow for the organization of supplies from Greece to underground gas storage facilities in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. The resource base for supplies will be Azerbaijani gas entering Greece via the Southern Gas Corridor and LNG delivered from all over the world to Greek liquefied gas terminals. That is, the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece, together with the modernized regasification station on the island of Revitus and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), will be the main components of the Vertical Gas Corridor.