INTERVIEW: Greece-Bulgaria gas link to run market tests for capacity expansion in H2 - SEE NEWS

Apr 28, 2023 15:31 EEST
Antonia Kokalova-Gray

SOFIA April 28 (SeeNews) - ICGB, the operator of the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector (IGB), is planning to launch market tests in the second half of 2023 to gauge potential demand ahead of a planned capacity expansion, chief executive Teodora Georgieva told SeeNews.

ICGB has begun assessing the pipeline's infrastructure readiness to carry hydrogen as well, Georgieva told SeeNews in an interview earlier this month at the Budapest LNG Summit.

In case of sufficient market demand, the expansion of the IGB's capacity to 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year from the current 3 bcm/year will also help ensure the flow of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from terminals in Greece - the operational facility at Revithoussa and planned terminals like the one in Alexandroupolis. ICGB is already working on this opportunity with Greek transmission system operator DESFA, according to the chief executive. Building a new compressor station on the Greek side is one of the projects that will advance capacity expansion.

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Gulmira Rzayeva via Jamestown.org

The Greek private limited company Gastrade, owned by the Greek conglomerate Coupelouzos Group, has been licensed to develop a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which would allow for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from various sources, including the United States, to northeastern Greece (Energypress.gr, December 22, 2016). Located off the coast of Alexandroupolis, the FSRU system is linked to a 29 kilometer subsea and onshore pipeline (25 km offshore and 4 km onshore), with a daily capacity of 16.8 million cubic meters of gas per day. Gastrade plans to import LNG through this project into the country, whereas the Monaco-registered LNG ship-owner GasLog will be responsible for shipping the gas.
According to current plans, the imported LNG will be regasified at Alexandroupolis and transported onward via the so-called Vertical Corridor, which will extend all the way to the Bulgarian market. From there, those volumes could supply other countries in Central and Eastern Europe or even Turkey, assuming that proves to be economically viable. But if that happens, those LNG imports might end up competing in the Bulgarian and Turkish markets with future gas volumes from Azerbaijan’s offshore Shah Deniz Stage 2 production project. The FSRU in Alexandroupolis is included on the European Union’s list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI), which means that this project is eligible to be financed (340 million euros, equivalent to $367 million) by the European Investment Bank (EIB) between 2016 and 2018 (Eib.org, accessed January 11, 2017).

Šefčovič, Greek Minister focus on TAP, Vertical Corridor, energy exports from the East Med to EU - NEW EUROPE

DECEMBER 6, 2016, 07:42
By New Europe Online/KG

The European Commission and Greece discussed in Brussels on December 5 the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Vertical Gas Corridor, exports from the East Mediterranean to the EU and privatisation of Greek gas transmission system operator DESFA.

Greece’s Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis met with European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič on the sidelines of the council meeting of energy ministers in Brussels.

According to the Greek Energy Ministry, the meeting was conducted in “constructive climate” and the two parties discussed TAP’s construction course, and the developments regarding two pipelines: the first concerns the Vertical Corridor and the second the connection of hydrocarbon fields in Southeast Mediterranean to the European market.