The site of the connection of the IGB interconnector to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
The IGB project connects Bulgaria with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, allowing gas to be transported from Azerbaijan through Greece to Italy and the region of Southeast Europe.
The Greece-Bulgaria interconnector has successfully connected to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). The physical connection was made with two gold welds. (Golden weld is a weld that is not subjected to hydraulic testing, but instead undergoes thorough non-destructive testing to ensure that the weld is defect-free, in accordance with applicable quality standards). They connect the Komotini gas measuring station to the existing TAP infrastructure, just a few hundred meters north of the IGB's overhead facility.
The preparatory activities for the connection between the two transmission operators took several months of careful planning and cooperation between the teams of the project company ICGB and TAP. The successful connection of the infrastructure of the two energy projects is a key step towards the completion and start of commercial operation of IGB, planned for this year.
After the completion of the mandatory non-destructive testing of the connection, the section will be backfilled, with which all mechanical work will be considered completed. The process of installing and integrating the measurement and control systems with TAP follows, which will allow transparent monitoring of the quantities of gas transited through the IGB gas pipeline.
At the start of commercial operation of the interconnector, the IP point between TAP and IGB will take an initial amount of 1 billion cubic meters / year. according to the contract of Bulgargaz. The quantities can be further increased to 3 billion m3 / year, which is the current capacity of the IGB pipeline.
The interconnector has the potential to increase its maximum capacity to a total of 5 billion cubic meters per year, given the increasingly unstable geopolitical situation, as well as due to the excellent synergy of the project with the planned and existing LNG terminals in the region. IGB is the only gas pipeline that will directly connect the Bulgarian gas market with the Southern Gas Corridor.
The IGB gas pipeline will also be connected to the gas transmission infrastructure of the Bulgarian national operator Bulgartransgaz in the Stara Zagora region, near the second gas measuring station of the interconnector. A physical connection with the transmission system of the Greek operator DESFA is also envisaged. All preparations by IGB have already been completed and DESFA is expected to provide a connection schedule in the coming weeks.
Source: Diana Zaykova, Action Global Communications Bulgaria, 0885/074 422, 0885/614 131