European Commission Urges For Accelerating IGB's Launch
Date
8/19/2022 5:09:37 AM
(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 19. The European
Commission encourages all parties concerned to accelerate necessary
steps to launch the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) as soon as
possible, a European Commission spokesperson told Trend, as it
received a letter from Romania's former energy minister.
Romania's former energy Minister Razvan Nicolescu has sent a
letter to the EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, asking to
take measures to speed up the launch of the Interconnector
Greece-Bulgaria, which is aimed at transporting Azerbaijani
gas.
“We can confirm the receipt of the letter and we will reply in
due course. The IGB is a Project of Common Interest, and we
consider this interconnection as a crucial piece of infrastructure
needed to diversify energy supplies in South East Europe and
strengthen the internal energy market. Thus, we encourage all
parties concerned to accelerate necessary steps to launch the IGB
as soon as possible,” said the spokesperson.
The Commission's spokesperson went on to add that the
organization has provided political and financial support to the
project since the beginning.
“The project has received €45 million from the European Energy
Programme for Recovery and €39 million from structural funds.
Furthermore, the project has received a partial exemption from
third-party access rules. The Commission has also approved state
aid for public support and access to Bulgarian structural funds.
The Commission has held regular contacts with the project company
and regulatory authorities as well as governments of Bulgaria and
Greece throughout the process, including in the last few months. We
are now closely monitoring the final steps of project
implementation, including those related to the certification,” the
spokesperson concluded.
The IGB project is of key importance for increasing security of
supply and for ensuring diversification of natural gas sources for
Bulgaria and the region of Southeast Europe. At the regional level,
IGB will provide access to the gas transmission network for
Bulgarian municipalities and regions that didn't have an option for
connectivity. The interconnector with Greece is an entirely new
route for the transmission of natural gas to Europe and will give
Bulgaria and the region access to supplies from new sources. The
project will connect the country with the Southern Gas Corridor and
has excellent synergy with other major energy projects such as TAP,
TANAP, EastMed and the LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis.
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