A new high-pressure gas pipeline was opened in Bulgaria on Friday, linking the Danube city of Silistra to the national gas transmission network.

The 80 km Dobrich-Silistra pipeline will also supply gas to the neighbouring municipalities of Dulovo, Alfatar and Tervel, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said at the opening ceremony held at the automatic gas regulation station in the city in northestern Bulgaria.

The pipeline will have a transmission capacity of 100,000 cubic metres per hour. It costs more than EUR 12.3 M, of which EUR 9.3 M have been provided as grant financing by the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF). State-owned gas transmission network operator Bulgartransgaz contributed the remainder.

The fund, managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),  was established in June 2000 to support Bulgaria with closing and decommissioning Units 1 to 4 of Kozloduy nuclear power plant.

Theconnecting of Silistra to the national gas grid “is essential for the future development of the gas distribution system and the supply of natural gas to households and industrial consumers in the region,” the EBRD said in a statement.

“Promoting communal gas supplies as an alternative source is part of mitigation measures implemented in parallel with the decommissioning of the Kozloduy reactors 1-4,” the Bank said.

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