Bulgaria-Serbia Interconnector Gas Pipeline

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The Bulgaria-Serbia Interconnector Gas Pipeline, also called the IBS Interconnector and the Nis-Sofia Gas Pipeline, is a proposed pipeline in Bulgaria and Serbia.

Location

The pipeline will run from Nis, Serbia to Sofia, Bulgaria. The exact route appears in the European Commission's March 2018 update on the projectand page 74 on Bulgartransgaz network development plan.

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Project Details

• Owner: Bulgartransgaz, Gastrans
• Proposed capacity: 1.8 billion cubic meters a year
• Diameter: 700 cm/ 28 inches
• Length: 170 km / 105.63 miles
  • Bulgarian Section: 62.2 km / 38.6 mi
  • Serbian Section: 108 km / 67 miles
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2022
• Financing: EUR 49.6 million European Commission grant to Serbia; EUR 25 million European Investment Bank loan for the Serbian section; a EUR 27.6 million grant to Bulgaria from the Connecting Europe Facility.

Background

The Bulgaria Serbia Interconnection will have a capacity of 1 to 1.8 billion cubic metres a year from Bulgaria to Serbia, and 0.15 billion cubic metres a year from Serbia to Bulgaria. The project forms part of the EU’s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) and is being treated as a priority for the Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity High Level Group (CESEC). The pipeline will provide a new supply route from Bulgaria to Serbia, as well as to other parts of the South-East European region, enabling access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Greece, Azeri gas from the Southern Gas Corridor, and gas from Black Sea offshore production.

Its European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas TYNDP code is TRA-F-137.

Financing

The European Commission is funding the Serbian side of the pipeline with a grant of EUR 49.6 million, and the European Investment Bank approved a EUR 25 million loan in December 2018 for the construction of the Serbian section. In 2020, Bulgaria was awarded a EUR 27.6 million grant under the Connecting Europe Facility for construction works.

One of the project promoters, Bulgartransgaz, a state-owned gas transmission system operator, announced in September 2020 that it had borrowed EUR 455 million from banks to finance various key projects such as the Bulgaria-Serbia Interconnector. Bulgartransgaz signed loan agreements with ING Bank, Citibank Europe, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, UniCredit Bulbank, the International Bank for Economic Co-operation, Eurobank Bulgaria, DSK Bank, and a consortium comprising state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank and the International Investment Bank.