Bulgargaz to Book Capacity at Greek LNG Terminal

Bulgaria's state-owned gas company Bulgargaz will reserve 500 million cubic gas annually for 10 years at the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal now being built in northern Greece, the government said on Tuesday.

Greek natural gas company Gastrade, which handles the project near the city of Alexandoupolis, has extended the deadline for companies to file binding bids to reserve capacity to March 20.

The LNG terminal, in which Bulgaria will have a 20% stake, seeks to supply gas to southeast Europe via a natural gas pipeline that will cross through Greece, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria.

Last year Gastrade received non-binding expressions of interest from 20 gas companies, representing up to 12.2 billion cubic metres (bcm) annually of reserved regassification capacity.

The commercial operation date for the project, with an estimated annual capacity of 6.1 bcm, is the third quarter of 2022. 

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova, editing by Ed Osmond)