The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it
is in co-funding talks with the stakeholders in the project for a gas link
between Bulgaria and Greece.
In 2010, state-run Bulgarian Energy Holding
(BEH) and IGI Poseidon, a 50/50 partnership between Greece's DEPA and Italy's
Edison, signed a contract for the construction of the gas link worth an
estimated 150 million euro ($203 million).
"[..] EBRD has been discussing
with the three shareholders BEH, DEPA and Edison co-financing the construction
on a 180 km pipeline interconnecting the gas transmission systems of Bulgaria
and Greece," an EBRD spokesperson said in response to an emailed SeeNews
inquiry.
The amounts and share of EBRD's funding are still under
discussion.
The decision to transport Shah Deniz II gas to Europe via the
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) makes this project even more relevant, the
spokesperson added.
In June, the Shah Deniz Consortium (SDC) selected TAP
to transport Shah Deniz II gas to Europe.
The Shah Deniz Stage 2 project
is set to bring gas directly from Azerbaijan to Europe for the first time,
opening up the Southern Gas Corridor.
TAP will connect with the Trans
Anatolian Pipeline near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and
Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy. Its
routing can facilitate gas supply to several South Eastern European countries,
including Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and
others.