In the autumn of this year our county will have its first Interconnection completed – the one with Romania, said the Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova who together with the Romanian Energy Minister Victor Vlad Grigorescu inspected the construction progress of the interconnection section under the Danube River. During the visit on the construction site in the town of Marten, Ruse District the equipment of the Austrian company Habau, which works on the main and on the back-up gas pipeline, was presented.
All activities have been carried out on schedule due to the good coordination between the transmission system operators of Bulgaria and Romania – Bulgartransgaz EAD and Transgaz S.A., highlighted Minister Petkova. In her words, the construction of the Interconnection Bulgaria-Romania will provide an opportunity for diversification of sources and routes of natural gas supplies. The interconnection between Bulgaria and the neighbouring countries will fulfil one of the main priorities of the European Energy Union. The Romanian Minister Grigorescu said that the completion of the project isn’t easy, but expressed confidence that the schedule will be met.
The total length of the interconnection is 25 km with 15.4 km on Bulgarian territory, 7.5 km on the Romanian territory and 2.1 km undercrossing of the Danube River – main and back-up gas pipeline. The minimum designed capacity of the interconnection is 0.5 mcm/y, and the maximum capacity is 1.5 bcm/y.
The project benefits from EU funding through the European Energy Programme for Reconstruction (EEPR), according to Commission Decision C(2010)5962 as of 06.09.2010.
Currently the construction of the Gas Metering Stations (GMS) Ruse and Giurgiu, as well as, the land sections of the pipeline on the territory of Bulgaria and Romania have been completed and accepted.
Early in April this year Bulgartransgaz EAD and Transgaz S.A. signed a contract for the construction of the main gas pipeline of the Danube River crossing (including the undercrossing) to interconnect the gas transmission systems of Romania and Bulgaria with the selected Contractor, SC Habau PPS Pipeline Systems SRL, Ploesti.
On May 30 the transmission system operators of Bulgaria and Romania signed a contract with an Association between the companies INSPET AD (Leader) and HABAU PPS Pipeline Systems OOD (Associated Company) for the construction of a back-up gas pipeline of the Danube River crossing (including the undercrossing) to interconnect the gas transmission systems of Romania and Bulgaria. The construction of the back-up gas pipeline shall be completed in 214 days as of the opening of the construction site on Bulgarian and Romanian territory by the signing of the Protocol of Findings Standard Form 15 for the construction on the territory of Bulgaria and Protocol on the Acceptance on the territory of Romania. On June 9, 2016 a Protocol for opening of a construction site on the Bulgarian territory was signed and an Order to commence the works on the Romanian territory was issued.
