European countries, Greece and Bulgaria have opened a long-awaited natural gas pipeline, in an attempt to achieve energy independence.

Outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told the inauguration ceremony in Komotini that “Over the coming weeks, the pipeline will be filled with Azeri gas and compensate for the discontinuation of Russian gas.”
Hailing the pipeline as historic, Petkov highlighted that it will link Komotini to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria.

The trans-boundary pipeline, which is 182-kilometre (113-mile) long, is called the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB).
Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian giant Gazprom refused to provide gas to Bulgaria as it refused to pay in roubles.

The TANAP/TAP pipeline designed to supply Western Europe with gas from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea will be linked by IGB.

With an option to upgrade to five, the pipeline has a capacity of three billion cubic metres and is worth 220 million euros ($224 million).

The European Union, which was frantically looking for gas alternatives after Russia threatened to cut off its supply, funded $45 million to the IGB to pipe gas from Algeria and Qatar via the existing LNG terminal in Revithousa.