The following comes from an article in Fox News and deals with Natural Gas in Europe.
Greece and Bulgaria have commenced operations for a joint pipeline that should help Europe significantly decrease its dependency on Russian oil and gas.
The roughly 113-mile Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline started commercial operations over the weekend, capping off an investment of 240 million euros (approximately $237 million) between the two nations.
The pipeline should carry around 1 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas from the Greek national system to Bulgaria, with plans to expand that to 3 billion and then 5 billion.
“This pipeline is a game changer. It’s a game changer for Bulgaria and for Europe’s energy security. And it means freedom. It means freedom from dependency on Russian gas,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during an inauguration ceremony in Sofia.
“Both here in Bulgaria and across Europe people are feeling the consequences of Russia’s war. But, thanks to projects like this, Europe will have enough gas for the winter,” she added.
A second European pipeline, the Baltic Pipe, also commenced operation at the same time, carrying gas from Norway’s North Sea deposits through Denmark to Poland.
The IGB pipeline, which completed construction in July, provides some much–needed relief. It will ferry gas to several nations in the Balkans region, including Serbia, North Macedonia, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
