Bulgartransgaz and Transgaz, the gas transmission operators of Bulgaria and Romania, have signed a contract with Austria’s Habau PPS Pipeline Systems SRL for the construction of the last section of a gas link between the two southeast European countries.
"The completion of the interconnector opens a new page in Bulgaria’s energy sector,” the country’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said at the signing ceremony in Sofia on 6 April, according to a statement from the Ministry.
The 2.1 km long pipeline section under the Danube river has to be completed in four months. The maximum design capacity of the 25 km long pipeline will be 1.5 billion cubic meters gas per year from Bulgaria to Romania and 500 million cubic meters in the opposite direction. In February, Habau won a tender to build the section under the Danube.
"We hope that after four months Bulgaria will have its first interconnector link operational,” Petkova said. “This is a step towards bringing to life the principles of the European Energy Union – security and sustainability of supply, competitiveness and affordable energy for consumers.”