By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan will export about 600 million cubic meters of gas to Bulgaria by the end of 2022, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said, Azernews reports.

He made the remarks during the meeting with Bulgarian Economy and Industry Minister Nikola Stoyanov, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan.

“We discussed the commercial commissioning of #IGB and the gas supply to #Bulgaria within the expansion of #TAP with Nikola Stoyanov, Minister of Economy and Industry. It is predicted that approximately 600 million cm of gas will be exported to Bulgaria by the end of the year," Parviz Shahbazov wrote on his official Twitter page.

Emphasizing that friendship and partnership relations with Bulgaria have deepened through energy cooperation, the minister noted that due to the non-readiness of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), Azerbaijan has supplied 555 million cubic meters of natural gas to Bulgaria since last year.

Parviz Shahbazov also noted that daily gas supplies to Bulgaria increased to 2.6 million cubic meters from July this year.

For his turn, Nikola Stoyanov stressed that Azerbaijan has always been a reliable partner. He also expressed Bulgaria’s interest in cooperation at the stage of TAP expansion.

During the meeting, the parties mentioned that the commercial launch of IGB is scheduled for October, noting that the pipeline will contribute to the energy supply of Bulgaria and southeastern Europe in general.

Moreover, they discussed the opportunities for additional gas supplies to Bulgaria as a part of the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor project.

The sides also exchanged views on Azerbaijan's plans for the production and export of electricity and hydrogen from the wind power potential of the Caspian Sea and the export opportunities of green energy to Europe, as well as cooperation opportunities in other areas in the field of energy.

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 segment.

The IGB gas pipeline is designed to connect with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe is 32'' and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction of Greece-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.