By Stuart Elliott, edited by Alisdair Bowles
Greece and Bulgaria have agreed to extend to the end of November the deadline for binding bids for capacity in the planned Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria designed to improve gas connectivity in southeast Europe.
The deadline for binding offers had been set for October 31, but the pipeline operator said it had extended the deadline "at the request of participants in the first phase."
A total of nine non-binding expressions of interest for a total of 5.3 Bcm/year of capacity were submitted in the first phase earlier this year.
"With the exception of the deadline for submission of binding offers, all other terms and conditions in the market test documentation remain in force," IGB said.
"The deadlines provided within the procedure are accordingly extended by one month."
In the non-binding first phase, a total aggregate capacity of 4.3 Bcm/year was requested for gas transportation services in the direction Greece-Bulgaria and some 1 Bcm/year was requested for the reverse mode from Bulgaria to Greece.
Work to build the pipeline -- designed to connect the poorly integrated markets in southeast Europe better -- is expected to start before the end of this year.
The 180-km (112-mile) pipeline is designed to transport up to 5 Bcm/year in forward flow to Bulgaria and up to 2 Bcm/year in reverse flow.
It will allow gas from the second phase of Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz gas field to split off to supply Bulgaria and other markets via Greece.
Greece is on the route of the planned TANAP/TAP pipeline network to bring Azerbaijani gas via Turkey to Italy.
Greece also has one operational LNG import terminal and another planned.
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