BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 20. The National energy regulatory authorities of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine have formally approved the new capacity products Route 2 and Route 3, marking a significant step forward in strengthening regional gas connectivity and security of supply for Ukraine, TurkicWorld reports via the ICGB.
The approvals enable natural gas deliveries to Ukraine from two diversified sources:
- Liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Alexandroupolis FSRU via the IGB pipeline
- Caspian pipeline gas via from the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), with the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector playing a central role along the south-to-north corridor
ICGB has been a key driver in the development and coordination of Routes 2 and 3, working closely with partner transmission system operators and national regulators across all countries along the route to design, align and bring these products through the full regulatory approval process.
On 22 December, all new capacity products - Routes 1, 2 and 3 - will be offered simultaneously and in competition on the Regional Booking Platform (RBP). Market participants will have transparent, market-based access to bundled, end-to-end capacity across the corridor. To support competitiveness and encourage utilization, ICGB will apply a 46% discount on its standard monthly tariff for these products.
“Routes 2 and 3 are the result of coordinated management and technical work in close cooperation with operators from the countries along the Vertical Gas Corridor axis and the European Commission. ICGB has played a leading role in shaping and introducing the new products with a clear objective: to provide flexible, reliable and diversified access to gas for the region and, in particular, to support Ukraine during a critical period,” said ICGB Executive Officers George Satlas and Teodora Georgieva.
The IGB gas pipeline connects with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora.
The gas pipeline's design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction Greece - Bulgaria. Depending on the market interest for larger capacity and the possibilities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the capacity of IGB is designed with the option for increase up to 5 billion m3/year.
