site.btaPrime Minister Borissov: Bulgaria to Get Azerbaijan's Natgas from Jan. 1

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Monday
said Bulgaria would achieve full diversification of its energy
sources as of January 1, 2021. Borissov and Energy Minister
Temenouzhka Petkova checked on the construction of the Gas
Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), said the government
information service.

Borissov said the project was making progress at full speed, "so
 that not a day will be lost on this extremely important
geostrategic project". He added that Bulgaria holds a 20 per
cent stake in the LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis so that 100
per cent diversification will be achieved after gas from sources
 different to the current ones starts flowing from South to
North.

So far 159 km of line pipes have been delivered for the project,
 72 km of the route has been welded and over 11 km of pipes have
 been laid and covered. The workforce involved is 440-strong.

The IGB pipeline will link the gas transmission systems of the
Greek national operator (DESFA) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline
(TAP) at Komotini and the transmission system of Bulgartransgaz
at Stara Zagora.

The interconnector is one of seven priority projects for the
security and competitiveness of the EU energy market. Through
it, Bulgaria will get Azeri natural gas through TAP and supplies
 from the US, Qatar, Algeria, Israel and Egypt, among others,
through the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal. The total length of
the IGB pipeline is 182 km, including 150 km in Bulgarian
territory. Its capacity for gas transmission is 3 billion cubic
metres per year, with the option to reach 5 billion cubic
metres. The project is worth 220 million euro. RI/DD