ICGB gets license to transport Azerbaijani gas to Greece

The design company of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria - ICGB has received a license for an autonomous natural gas transportation system on the territory of the Hellenic Republic.

Proceeding from the decision of the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE), the project company responsible for the implementation of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) will be able to transport natural gas for 50 years, Report informs citing the company.

A similar license for a period of 35 years has already been issued by the Bulgarian Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC).

EWRC is expected to grant the final permission to start the licensed activity in accordance with the commissioning procedure.

Licensing is a key step toward preparing the interconnector with Greece for the operational phase and is a confirmation that ICGB is resourcefully and technically prepared to transport natural gas.

The successful licensing of the project company in Greece is an extremely important stage in the overall regulatory preparation of the IGB project and is one of the last regulatory processes following the ICGB's successful certification as an independent transmission operator.

After a conciliation procedure with the European Commission, a joint decision on ICGB certification was made by the Greek and Bulgarian national regulators in early July 2022.

A new two-tier ICGB management model is expected to be introduced, which is a mandatory requirement in connection with the restructuring of the company as an independent transmission operator, the project company said.

“By making this successful step, we are one step further towards completing the preparation for the operational phase of the gas pipeline. From a technical point of view, the most important thing for us is that the Greek contracting company completes the integration and testing of the automatic control system, the so-called SCADA system, as quickly as possible. IGB was designed as the first fully automatic gas pipeline in Bulgaria, and this process cannot be neglected for its efficient and safe operation,” ICGB Executive Directors Teodora Georgieva and Konstantinos Karayannakos said.

They emphasized that they hope for enhanced institutional support to reduce the remaining administrative procedures for the interconnector to operate as soon as possible.