Italian-Saudi consortium will build the Bulgarian part of "Turkish Stream" for EUR 1.1 billion

Consortium between the Italian Arkad ABB S.p.A. and the Saudi Arkad Engineering & Construction Company has been named the winner of the tender for the expansion of Bulgaria's gas transmission system. This was announced by the national gas transport operator "Bulgartransgaz".

It is about the construction of the new route for Russian gas from the second stage of the Turkish Stream pipeline to Bulgaria and other European countries. The facility is 474 km long from the border with Turkey to the one with Serbia. Consortium Arkad is ready to build this gas pipeline for EUR 1,102 billion in 615 days or EUR 1,288 billion in 250 days. The other bidder is the Gas Development and Expansion in Bulgaria (GDEB) alliance. It has offered EUR 1.7 billion for 615 days of work and EUR 2.4 billion to build the facility for 250 days. It includes the companies Bonatti S.p.A., Max Streicher S.p.A. and Completions Development Sarl.

We recall that Gazprom completed the construction of the two pipes from the sea section of the Turkish Stream pipeline along the Black Sea, each with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters per year. One of the pipelines is designed to supply Russian natural gas to the Turkish market and the other one to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary - to the European one. In January, Bulgartransgaz took a final investment decision on the project to expand the national gas transmission system from Turkey to Serbia. Previously, Gazprom Export booked the future gas transmission capacity in Bulgaria for 20 years against EUR 3.5 billion.