BULGARIA

The capacity of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which has 15 gas traders as registered users, was booked by 90 percent in February, Teodora Georgieva, chief executive director of ICGB company, the pipeline operator, said, Trend reports.

Moreover, she noted that in December, with over 90 percent of its capacity booked, IGB transported gas to Moldova.

Bulgaria is interested in the Green Corridor Project, which involves the transportation of green energy from the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan) through the Black Sea (Georgia) to Europe, the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan told Trend.

Natural gas in Bulgaria has fallen in price since April 1, , Trend reports citing the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.

The Commission approved on Saturday the price of gas in April in the amount of 98.16 leva (about 49.8 euros) per 1 MWh without additional payments, while in March it was 106.74 leva ( about 53.37 euros).

Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania are preparing an agreement for gas supplies from Azerbaijan, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, said, following the meeting of the ministers of the countries of Organization of Turkic States, Trend reports via Hungarian media.

According to the minister, an agreement has been reached to launch the supply of 100 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan to Hungary this year.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will allocate additional 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas from 2026, said Luca Schieppati, TAP Managing Director at the European Gas Conference, Trend reports.

“TAP recently triggered the first level of capacity expansion. The additional 1.2 bcm to be allocated from 2026 will be the initial phase of the process until capacity is reached to 20 bcm per year,” he said.

Four EU countries are setting up a working group for the project to boost Azerbaijani gas imports, Slovakian Ministry of Economy told Trend.

Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have asked the European Commission to allocate funds for developing infrastructure to get additional natural gas from Azerbaijan. It is about developing the existing infrastructure, construction of new interconnectors and expanding the capacity of the existing ones.

Azerbaijan and Andorra discussed arrangements for signing the memorandum of understanding between institutions for the development of winter tourism, Trend reports citing the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan.

This issue was addressed during the working visit of the agency's Chairman Fuad Naghiyev to Spain and Andorra.

Around 4.875 million megawatt hours were transported through the Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline (IGB) for the period October 1 - December 31, 2022, the ICGB, the pipeline operator, told Trend.

“In December, just months after the pipeline entered commercial operation, IGB’s capacity reached over 94 percent booking rate. By the end of 2022, there are 11 registered users of the interconnector,” said the company.

Representatives of ICGB AD (Bulgaria), Bulgartransgaz EAD (Bulgaria), DESFA S.A. (Greece), Gastrade S.A. (Greece), FGSZ LTD (Hungary) and SNTGN TRANSGAZ S.A. (Romania) signed the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the Vertical Gas Corridor. The meeting took place in Athens, Greece.

Activities for the implementation of the stages specified in the Construction Permit for the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector are progressing and are being implemented by the Greek construction company AVAX.

These activities do not interfere with the independent functioning of the gas pipeline, which is why the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works MRDPW approved their separation into separate stages of construction.