The deadline for binding offers to book capacity of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) project has been extended to the end of November, the project company has said.

The process was part of the second phase of the market test launched late last year testing offers for gas supply. The phase was to end on October 31, but has been extended due to "requests by participants in the first phase," ICGB AD says in a statement.

Earlier this month, Bulgaria's Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said four companies that had not participated in the first phase of the test were interested in bidding.

ICBG AD is a Bulgaria-based joint venture of the Bulgarian Energy Holding and Greece's IGI Poseidon SA (the latter company being a co-owned by Greece's DEPA and Italy's Edison SpA).

The interconnector is designed to link the two countries' gas networks and diversify Bulgaria's supplies, but, through links with other infrastructure projects, to enable deliveries to other countries in Southeast Europe.

It will link Komotini in Greece to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria.

The three shareholders in IGB, as well as Austria’s OMV, Greece’s Gastrade, US Noble Energy and Azerbaijan’s Socar have expressed an interest, among others, Kathimerini writes.

Nine non-binding offers were submitted in the first phase of the market test, with a total capacity of 4.3 billion cubic meters under conditions of direct gas flow and 1 bcm yearly under conditions of reverse flow (IGB is to deliver a maximum of 3 bcm annually, according to the current project).

The second phase is aimed at establishing what capacity of the pipe will be booked through the binding offers.