Bulgaria, Bulgartransgaz will obtain 49 million euros loan for gas interconnection with Serbia

Bulgarian caretaker Government said that natural gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz will obtain a loan in the amount of 49 million euros from the Dutch ING Bank to partially finance the construction of the Bulgarian section of gas interconnection with Serbia.

The statement from the Government said that the proposed five-year loan will be guaranteed by the state. The funds must be withdrawn by the end of 2023.

The loan will help fund the construction of a 62 kilometers long pipeline within Bulgarian territory, from the town of Novi Iskar to the Serbian border. The project will also require the construction of two automatic gas regulating stations, one gas measuring station near the border checkpoint at Kalotina, as well as two gas pipeline deviations for the town of Slivnitsa and the town of Dragoman. The interconnection will have a capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters per year, with enabled reverse flow.

The planned investment in the construction of the Bulgarian section of the interconnection amounts to 76.7 million euros. The project will be additionally funded by EU grants through the operational program Innovations and Competitiveness 2014-2020 and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).