The Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) has issued a Decision No 671/2019 granting ICGB AD a license for Independent Natural Gas System (INGS). The license, issued on June 27th 2019 and notified on July 18th 2019, concerns the Greek section of the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB).
The INGS is issued for a period of fifty (50) years and expires on 27/06/2069.
The INGS license grants the right to ICGB AD to start construction of the project including the pipeline and auxiliary facilities and equipment on the territory of the Hellenic Republic
The obtaining of this license represents tremendous progress as it is the final step towards securing the regulatory regime of the IGB project and ensuring successful start of the construction of the pipeline on the territory of the Hellenic Republic.
The IGB Project (Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB AD, registered in Bulgaria in 2011, with shareholders BEH EAD (50%) and IGI Poseidon (50%). The co-shareholder IGI Poseidon is a company, registered in Greece, with shareholders being the Greek public gas corporation DEPA SA (50%) and the Italian energy group Edison SpA (50%).
In accordance with its Statute, ICGB AD will be the owner of the IGB gas pipeline and will finance its realization, will allocate its capacity and will receive the revenue from the transportation of natural gas.
The IGB gas pipeline will be connected with the Greek national gas transmission system in the area of Komotini and with the Bulgarian national gas transmission system in the area of Stara Zagora. The planned length of the pipeline is 182 km, the pipeline diameter will be 32” and the projected capacity will be up to 3 bcm/y in the direction from Greece to Bulgaria. Depending on the interest from the market and the capacities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the pipeline is designed for increasing its capacity up to 5 bcm/y for following up the market evolution thus allowing physical reverse flow (from Bulgaria to Greece) with the additional installation of a compressor station. A Memorandum for cooperation between ICGB AD and TAP AG has been signed concerning joint actions in relation to future connection between the IGB pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
