Athens - A new pipeline in the Greek-Bulgaria border, built during the COVID-19 pandemic, tested and due to start commercial operation in June, is set to ensure that large volumes of gas will flow between the two countries in both directions to generate electricity, fuel industry and heat homes.

The energy link is of great importance following Moscow’s decision this week to cut off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria over a demand for ruble payments owing from Western sanctions on Russia.

The 180-kilometer project is the first of several planned gas interconnectors that will allow eastern European Union members and countries hoping to join the 27-nation bloc access to the global gas market.

Officially called the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, the new pipeline will complement the existing European network.

The connection will give Bulgaria access to ports in neighbouring Greece that are importing liquefied natural gas, or LNG, and will also bring gas from Azerbaijan through a new pipeline system that ends in Italy.

Other EU countries are also drawing up strategies to update their own energy mix in the wake of the Russian gas cut-off.

For instance, Germany, the world’s biggest buyer of Russian energy, is looking to build LNG import terminals that would take years, and Italy, another top Russian gas importer, has reached deals with Algeria, Azerbaijan, Angola and Congo for gas supplies.

The European Union wants to cut its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds this year and completely over five years through alternative sources, wind and solar, and conservation.

The new pipeline will run between the northeastern Greek city of Komotini and Stara Zagora, in central Bulgaria, and will give the country and neighbors with new grid connections access to the expanding global gas market. That includes a connection with the newly built Trans Adriatic Pipeline carrying gas from Azerbaijan as well as suppliers of liquefied natural gas that arrives by ship, likely to include Qatar, Algeria and the United States.

As many as eight additional interconnectors could be built in eastern Europe, reaching as far as Ukraine and Austria.

The 240 million euro ($250 million) pipeline will carry 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with an option to be expanded to 5 billion. It received funding from Bulgaria, Greece and the EU and has strong political support from Brussels and the United States.
-AP