The project company ICGB successfully completed the public procurement for design, procurement and construction (EPC) of the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector tender. Initial interest in the restricted procedure was expressed by 11 Bulgarian and foreign companies and consortia. The participant that best covers ICGB’s technical and financial requirements is J&P AVAX S.A. The company received final score of 83.8 points of maximum 100 and offered a price of EUR 144 850 000.
The Executive Officers of ICGB Teodora Georgieva and Konstantinos Karayannakos announced they are pleased with the successful completion of the procedure and the progress made. The two noted that the tenders for the construction and the line pipe supply are the most important and final steps for the start of the construction activities for the gas interconnector. The contract will be executed in 18 months after the start of the construction activities. ICGB expects mobilization and relies on the contractor’s professionalism regarding compliance with the set budget and the project’s schedule.
The IGB Project (Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB AD, registered in Bulgaria in 2011, with shareholders BEH EAD (50%) and IGI Poseidon (50%). The co-shareholder IGI Poseidon is a company, registered in Greece, with shareholders being the Greek public gas corporation DEPA SA (50%) and the Italian energy group Edison SpA (50%).
In accordance with its Statute, ICGB AD will be the owner of the IGB gas pipeline and will finance its realization, will allocate its capacity and will receive the revenue from the transportation of natural gas.
The IGB gas pipeline will be connected with the Greek national gas transmission system in the area of Komotini and with the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora. The planned length of the pipeline is 182 km, the pipeline diameter will be 32” and the projected capacity will be up to 3 bcm/y in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. Depending on the interest from the market and the capacities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the pipeline is designed for increasing its capacity up to 5 bcm/y for following up the market evolution thus allowing physical reverse flow (from Bulgaria to Greece) with the additional installation of a compressor station. A Memorandum for cooperation between ICGB AD and TAP AG has been signed concerning joint actions in relation to future connection between the IGB pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
