The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, welcomed this Saturday in Sofia the launch of the commercial operations of a Greek-Bulgarian gas pipeline, key according to her to emancipate itself from Russian energy.
The so-called IGB interconnection, 182 km long, was inaugurated in July but it was not until Saturday that commissioning began, Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Galab Donev said. It allows Bulgaria, which has not received gas from the Russian giant Gazprom since April, to diversify its sources and “be less vulnerable”.
1 billion m3 per year
This Balkan country, highly dependent on Moscow for energy before the conflict in Ukraine, is now connected to the Tanap/Tap gas pipeline intended to transport Azeri gas from the Caspian Sea to Western Europe. Sofia must receive 1,000 million m3 per year of this gas, for a total IGB capacity of 3,000 million m3.
At a cost of €220 million, including €50 million of European funding, the idea of the Greek-Bulgarian link was born in 2009 but its construction took a long time. By comparison, the Nord Stream pipelines affected by the explosions had cost €8 billion for a capacity of 110 million m3. According to several specialists, they would be irreparable.
A memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan
The war in Ukraine and the energy crisis precipitated the efforts. It took “a lot of determination” and “patience” to complete, said von der Leyen, who is desperate to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian gas.
Thus, it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan in July in Baku to double gas imports from this country in a few years, with a view to obtaining independence from Russian gas.
The ceremony took place in the presence of the European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the Heads of State of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, the North Macedonian, Stevo Pendarovski, and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Roumen Radev, as well as Greek and Romanian.
Source: BFM TV
