Two groups submit offers for gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece
02/04/2019 13:53
SOFIA, April 2 (Reuters) - A consortium of two Bulgarian
companies and Italy's Bonatti and Greece's J & P AVAX AVAr.AT
submitted offers in a tender to design and build a gas pipeline
between Bulgaria and Greece, project manager ICGB said on
Tuesday.
Some 11 companies filed initial bids in the 145 million euro
($162.40 million) tender and they were shortlisted to five in
February. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2004LK
Bulgaria plans to start building the 182 km (113 mile)
pipeline in July and have it operational in 2020. It will
receive Azeri gas through the pipeline, thereby ending its
almost complete dependence on Russian supplies.
The 240 million euros ($271.82 million) pipeline will have
an annual capacity of 3 billion cubic meters.
Sofia-based ICGB said it would now make a review and
evaluation of the technical proposals with final decision
expected next month.
"The project company and its shareholders have mobilised all
the resources to comply with the schedule for starting the
construction, relying on the high quality of the technical
proposals of the participants and their established
professionalism," ICGB executive directors Teodora Georgieva and
Konstantinos Karayanakos said in a statement.
ICGB is 50 percent owned by Bulgaria's state-owned BEH
energy holding company. The remaining shares are held by the
Greek gas company DEPA and Italy's Edison EDNn.MI .
($1 = 0.8929 euros)
(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov, editing by Louise Heavens)
((angel.krasimirov@thomsonreuters.com; +359 888 695 510))