Bulgaria Starts Long-list for Greek Pipeline Link
The Bulgarian ICGB project company developing the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) opened March 16 the requests for participation in the restricted procedure for linepipe manufacture and supply.
Bulgarian energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova announced the start of the public meeting for opening of the requests and manufacturers from several continents are interested in the procedure, the company said March 16.
IGB with 3bn m³/yr initially will be a spur from the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, with Bulgaria taking 1bn m³/yr and looking for more from Azerbaijan's national producer Socar.
Ten requests were submitted from Bulgarian and other European companies, she said, identifying Jindaw SAW, Russian Zagorsk and Chelyabinsk pipe plans, Germany's Mannesmann International, Turkish Noksel Celik, Umran Celik, Erciyas Celik and Greek Korinth Pipeworks. IGB has launched the tender for an engineer to start building the pipeline sometime in mid-2018.
"The high interest in the tender is a proof that we have managed to guarantee public, transparent and competitive conditions for participation", Petkova pointed out.
“Today's procedure is a restricted one, meaning that it will take place in two stages: a pre-selection phase and then the evaluation and ranking offers. For the second stage of the procedure, invitations will be sent only to the candidates who have passed the pre-selection. ICGB will invite only five candidates for the second phase of the selection. As of now, the planned date for sending the invitations is April 20, 2018 and the selection of line pipes supplier is expected to be finalized by the end of June”.
According to the contractual strategy adopted by ICGB, the supply of line pipes is assigned separately from the main procurement contract for the engineering, procurement, construction and supply of equipment.
IGB is being implemented by the joint venture company ICGB AD, registered in Bulgaria in 2011, with shareholders BEH EAD (50%) and IGI Poseidon (50%). The co-shareholder IGI Poseidon is a company, registered in Greece, with shareholders being the Greek public gas corporation DEPA (50%) and the Italian energy group Edison (50%), the latter being majority owned by French power giant EDF.