Baku, Sofia discuss timing of commercial gas supplies via IGB

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Baku and Sofia have discussed the timing of the start of commercial supplies of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria via the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pipeline, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during the phone conversation between the two countries’ energy ministers Parviz Shahbazov and Rosen Hristov.

During the conversation, Shahbazov assured Hristov that from October 1, 2022, Azerbaijani gas will be supplied to Bulgaria via the IGB.

The parties also discussed the technical possibility of supplying additional gas volumes in excess of the agreed volumes.

Last week, Rosen Hristov announced that he was resuming negotiations with Azerbaijan on increasing natural gas supplies to Bulgaria in order to ensure and guarantee the necessary volumes for the heating season.

Bulgaria is currently one of three EU countries that buy gas from Azerbaijan. Earlier, Parviz Sahbazov said that in 2022, gas supplies to Bulgaria will amount to 600 million cubic meters.

Azerbaijan and Bulgaria agreed to supply 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year through the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria. However, because the IGB was still under construction, Azerbaijani gas was delivered to Bulgaria via the Kulata-Sidirokastro interconnection point.

The IGB gas pipeline connects to the Greek national gas transmission system in Komotini and the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in Stara Zagora. The pipeline's length is 182 km, with a capacity of up to 3bn cubic meters per year in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. The pipeline is designed to increase its capacity up to 5 bcm/y depending on market interest and the capacities of neighboring gas transmission systems.

The opening ceremony of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria was held in Komotini on July 8.