Bulgaria’s Gas Ambitions Not in Sofia’s Hands

Bulgaria continues attempts to decrease its dependence on Russian gas, repeating it is ready to finalise a deal to build the IGB gas link to neighbouring Greece. However, it seems that, once more, its energy faith does not completely depend on its will. 

Sofia said several times it is ready to proceed with the 182 km pipeline, but it explained on Wednesday it is waiting for a decision of the new Greek Government. 

“As a result of the current deferral, the project will be completed at the end of 2018, rather than in the middle of 2018 as it was planned” Nikolay Nikolov, Deputy Energy Minister of Bulgaria, told Reuters on Wednesday. 

IGB (Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is meant to transport gas from Azerbaijan and through LNG terminal in Greece. Bulgarian State Energy Holding has a 50 stake in the project, with the remaining owned by the Greek DEPA operator and Italy's Edison company.

In June, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

“The interconnector will have an approximate capacity of around 25-30 billion cu m and this in turn will enable Bulgaria to become a distribution hub from which Azeri gas could reach other countries in Europe” Borissov said in that occasion.  

Meanwhile, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held talks at the Kremlin with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.