The United States has sent its special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, Amos Hochstein, to Athens, who met with Greek Energy Minister Panos Skourletis will meet Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova on October 17 to push for speeding up the implementation of a Greek-Bulgarian gas pipeline.
Skourletis said Athens wants to overcome delays holding back the Interconnector-Greece-Bulgaria (IGB). “There is a will to speed up the project and finally materialise it provided it is viable financially,” Skourletis said after meeting Petkova and Hochstein. Skourletis said he hoped to have a clearer picture and more positive developments in November.
The 180-kilometre pipeline is to be built by a Greek-Bulgarian joint venture set up in 2011 and including Italian energy group Edison but has faced recent delays even though the project is deemed financially viable and will boost the EU’s energy security.
Hochstein’s came ahead of a formal visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Athens in November.
IGB was planned to ensure an alternative supply to Russian natural gas for Bulgaria through a linkup with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that will carry gas from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz field to Europe.
