On 1 October, the opening ceremony of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) gas pipeline took place in Sofia, the capital of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev welcomed the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the heads of state and government of other countries. The gas pipeline was inaugurated in the presence of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Saturday.
The pipeline, which runs between the northern Greek city of Komotini and the Bulgarian town of Stara Sagora, is 182 kilometres long and will transport between three and five billion cubic metres of natural gas per year. The IGB pipeline connects Bulgaria to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (Tap). This pipeline transports natural gas from Azerbaijan via Turkey to Greece and on to Italy.
The total EU support for the IGB amounts to more than 250 million euros. Azerbaijan has a 20 per cent stake in the pipeline; other shareholders are British Petroleum, Snam, Fluxys and Enagás.