More than 3 million megawatt-hours of gas have been transported via the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB) since the beginning of the year, ICGB told Trend on Friday.
“For the period from January 1 to February 28, 2023, 3.08 million MWh were transported through the gas pipeline. And since commissioning on October 1, 2022, 7.9 million MWh have been transported. As of the end of February, the number of users IGB is 15,” the company said.
According to ICGB, the total capacity of IGB is 3 billion cubic meters per year, of which 1.57 billion cubic meters have already been booked under long-term contracts for up to 25 years. Free capacities are successfully put up for auction on the European sites PRISMA and RBP.
“The volumes of natural gas transported through the interconnector since the beginning of October 2022 provide almost 1/3 of Bulgaria’s domestic consumption during the winter period. The new infrastructure creates opportunities for transporting natural gas to other neighboring countries in the region, including Moldova and Ukraine. IGB – this is the first route of diversified natural gas supplies to Bulgaria, guaranteeing increased reliability of supplies and diversification of sources,” the company said.
It should be noted that IGB is connected to TAP, through which gas from the Shah Deniz field is supplied to European markets.
At the first stage, the throughput capacity of the gas pipeline will be three billion cubic meters per year. At the second stage, depending on the development of the market, the capacity of the pipeline can be increased to 5 billion cubic meters per year by adding a compressor station.