Bulgaria will start looking for financing for Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria
(IGB Pipeline) at the end of April, the country’s government said on
Tuesday.
Bulgaria expects to receive the technical project for the gas
interconnector after which it will consider financing for the project, the
government said in a press release.
The construction of the gas link is
planned to start at the beginning of 2015 at the latest.
The
182-kilometre IGB Pipeline, which will start at the northeastern Greek city of
Komotini and end at Stara Zagora, in southern Bulgaria, will carry 3.0 billion
cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas annually in its initial stage and will have a
maximum capacity of 5.0 bcm per year. It will be eventually connected to the
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), carrying natural gas from the Caspian Sea to
Europe through Greece. The pipeline, which is expected to become operational in
2016, is estimated to cost 220 million euro ($305.5 million).