Bulgarian energy minister Vasil Shtonov said on September 23 that the gas interconnector between Romania and Bulgaria is expected to go into operation in 2015. The pipeline will play a key role in reducing Bulgaria’s dependence on a single energy source, together with the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB Pipeline), which is also under construction, Shtonov told the Natural Gas - Infrastructure, Market, and Services conference, according to a statement released by the ministry. The 25-kilometre Romania-Bulgaria pipeline links the southern Romanian village of Comasca with Marten, in northern Bulgaria, under the Danube river. The project includes the construction of a 15 kilometre pipeline in Bulgaria, another 7.5 kilometres in Romania and a 2.5 kilometre underwater section. The maximum design capacity of the pipeline is 1.5 billion cubic metres a year. The other gas pipeline, linking Bulgaria to Greece, is expected to become operational in 2016. The 182-kilometre IGB Pipeline, which will start at the northeastern Greek city of Komotini and end at Stara Zagora, in southern Bulgaria, will carry 3 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually in its initial stage and will have a maximum capacity of 5 billion cubic metres per year. It will be eventually connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), part of the Southern Gas Corridor. According to Shtonov, the expected supply of one billion cubic metres of gas annually from the Shah Deniz 2 field through the Southern Gas Corridor represents about 40% of the current gas consumption of Bulgaria. Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. Bulgaria has also called for regional cooperation to take advantage of the untapped huge clean energy potential. “Our region is blessed with huge clean energy potential, with strong solar and wind resources. To make use of this untapped energy potential, we have to strengthen our regional cooperation,” Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said on September 23 during the Climate Summit held in UN headquarters here in New York.
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