Bulgaria to Import Azeri Gas Prior to TAP Project

Bulgaria intends to import small quantities of gas from Azerbaijan prior to the commissioning of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Azeri media reported.

The gas will be transferred through the existing gas system in Turkey, as well as to through a future gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria at Komotini via Turkey, Azeri news outfit abc.az said on Friday citing sources from the Bulgarian embassy in Azerbaijan.

The deliveries of Azeri gas are expected to start in 2017 from the Azeri state-owned gas and oil company SOCAR to Bulgaria’s gas monopoly Bulgargaz.

Earlier this month, during a visit of Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev to Azerbaijan for the official launch of the Southern Gas Corridor project, officials of SOCAR and Bulgargaz agreed to start negotiations on the launch of Azeri natural gas supplies to Bulgaria in 2017 via the interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria (IGB Pipeline), which is to be deployed by the end of 2016.

The 182-kilometreIGB Pipeline will carry 3.0 bcm of natural gas annually in its initial stage and will have a maximum capacity of 5.0 bcm per year. It will be eventually connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

Earlier this year, the energy ministry also said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of a gas interconnector with Turkey. The construction of the gas interconnector on Bulgarian territory has been awarded to Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz.

TAP, with an approximate length of 870 kilometres, will transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. It will start at Kipoi, near the Turkish-Greek border, and cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy. TAP’s routing can facilitate gas supply to several SoutheastEuropean countries, including Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others.

Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.

Source:SeeNews