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Bulgartransgaz to Open Bids for Interconnector Turkey –Bulgaria on May 8
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Photo by EPA/BGNES
Bids for the public procurement procedure for the feasibility study for the Interconnector Turkey –Bulgaria (ITB) will be opened on May 8, according to the Public Procurement Agency.
Bulgaria’s state-owned gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz, which is the Bulgarian contractor (the Turkish one is state-owned energy company Botas) in the project, received EU funding of EUR 190 000 for the feasibility study in early April, according to Capital Daily.
The EU grant was provided under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - CEF-Energy.
A public procurement procedure for a contractor of the feasibility study was announced shortly after that.
The total value of the public procurement is EUR 380 000, VAT excluded, with the remainder of the funding to be provided by Bulgartransgaz.
The feasibility study for the gas pipeline includes a technical study of the route options, an assessment of the cost of the different options, and an identification of the market needs.
The contractor will also have to conduct preliminary activities related to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the Social Impact assessment (SIA).
The feasibility study should also say whether the project is economically viable and provide a schedule for its development.
The deadline set by Bulgartransgaz for all of the activities is January 31, 2016.
The award criterion will be the lowest price.
The candidates should have at least five years of experience in the preparation of pre-investment studies and should have completed at least one project similar to the subject-matter of the contract.
The construction of the gas pipeline connecting the gas grids of Turkey and Bulgaria will cost around EUR 100 M, according to estimates of Bulgartransgaz.
The ITB is expected to be completed in 2018.
The pipeline route which is currently being discussed is 200km long and connects the Lozenets compressor station to Malkoclar, Turkey.
The capacity of the gas pipeline will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
The ITB is one of the opportunities for Bulgaria to get Azeri gas from the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) or raw material via LNG terminals in Turkey.
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