ICGB introduces new management model as independent natural gas transmission operator

By Trend

The company that will operate commercially the gas interconnector with Greece is introducing a two-tier management model – a key requirement for certification received from the two national energy regulators to take effect, Trend reports.

ICGB introduces a new management model in response to the requirements to transform the project company into an independent transmission operator. After a General Assembly of the company’s shareholders (BEH and IGI Poseidon), a new Statute of the company was also adopted. The changes are part of ICGB's obligations under the company's certification by the national energy regulators of Greece and Bulgaria, which was announced earlier in July.

At the General Assembly, a new executive officer from the Greek side was elected and the members of two newly created structures - the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of the company - were approved. The newly elected members of the company's two boards have been nominated for regulatory approval in March 2022 as part of ICGB’s certification process as an independent transmission operator.

The company continues to be represented by two Executive Officers – Teodora Georgieva remains the representative from the Bulgarian side, and Georgios Satlas becomes the Executive Officer from the Greek side. Satlas, a Mechanical Engineer (NTUA) with an MBA degree, possesses several years of managerial experience in the financial sector, having dealt with an extremely wide range of principals in the fields of investment and real estate management. He has been a high-ranking executive in the Greek sovereign wealth fund, as well as in subsidiaries of all four systemic Greek banks. "I am joining the IGB project at an extremely dynamic, but also very key stage of its development during turbulent times for the European energy sector. This will be the most high-tech gas pipeline in Bulgaria and, at the same time, a completely new route for the import of natural gas to Southeastern Europe, providing new solutions and energy flexibility for the region. Through IGB, Greece and Bulgaria will position themselves in a completely new way on the gas map of the region, and I am honored to be a part of this process," said Satlas.

A key requirement for the Executive Officers is that for a period prior to taking up this position, they have not been part of a vertically integrated enterprise that is related to any of ICGB's shareholders. The previous Executive Officer from the Greek side, Konstantinos Karayannakos, is part of the team of the Greek DEPA Commercial S.A., which necessitates the change from the Greek side. "The implementation of the gas interconnector Greece-Bulgaria is an extremely important element of the overall European energy strategy for the region and is among the top priorities of the two national governments. Working on this project is a serious professional challenge, but also an achievement, and I would like to thank the entire ICGB team for the efforts we made together to make this project happen,” Karayannakos stated. The ICGB team would like to thank Konstantinos Karayannakos for his efforts and the results achieved so far.

Georgieva and Satlas are also members of ICGB’s Management Board, which consists of a total of 4 members. The other two representatives nominated by the shareholders are Tanko Stanilov and Giuseppe Macri. Stanilov has over 10 years of experience as a Regional Manager at "Toplivo Gaz" EOOD. Macri joins the ICGB Management Board following his employment at the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP), where he held the position of Commercial Operations Manager.

Veselin Petrov, Panagiotis Rizos, Angel Yankov, Momchil Vanov, Fabio Santambrogio and Georgios Polychroniou were elected as members of the newly established Supervisory Board of the company. The nominations were made on a parity basis by the shareholders - BEH and IGI Poseidon.

The changes have entered into force and have already been published in the Commercial Register.