Bulgaria seriously interested in Azerbaijani gas transit, says Bulgarian Premier

Bulgaria is seriously interested in Azerbaijani gas transit via its territory, Bulgarian Premier Boyko Borisov said in his interview to TACC.

He said Bulgaria needs to expand the interconnectors, in particular with Greece, to transport gas through its territory.

“We have repeatedly spoken with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about the necessity to ensure the route of Azerbaijani gas deliveries to Bulgaria, so Azerbaijan can trade through Bulgaria. Azerbaijan and Bulgaria have good and friendly relationship. Creation of a gas hub in Bulgaria is absolutely real and possible. We continue working on that,” Borisov added.

IGB (interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is the gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria receiving Azerbaijani gas, in particular one extracted from the Shah Deniz Phase 2.

IGB is expected to be connected to the trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP), via which gas from the field will be delivered to the European markets. In January 2014 the TAP consortium and ICGB signed the memorandum of mutual understanding on technical cooperation. The document envisages establishment of cooperation between the two companies, which will jointly work on connection of the pipelines in Komotini district (Greece), which will open the path to new gas deliveries to the gas distribution network of Bulgaria and further to the South-Eastern Europe.—0--