[에너지신문] 11 December 2015 - Bulgaria and Greece have signed a final investment agreement on the construction of a 180 km long gas interconnection, the 3 bcm/year Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) project. Works are expected to start in October 2016.
The €220m project is supported by the European Union (grant of €45m) and is developed by Bulgaria's state-owned energy holding company BEH with a 50% interest, in partnership with Greek national gas company DEPA and Italian energy group Edison (25% each). The IGB gas pipeline is expected to be commissioned after 2018. It will tap gas from Azerbaijan at the Turkey-Greece border and will also deliver LNG from Greek terminals to Bulgaria, reducing the country's dependence on Russian gas. Bulgaria also plans to connect a new gas pipeline to the Romanian network by mid-2016 and to commission a gas interconnection to Serbia in 2018.