Bulgartransgaz and Transgaz, the gas transmission operators of Bulgaria and Romania, have signed a contract with Austria’s Habau PPS Pipeline Systems SRL for the construction of the last section of a gas gas link between the two southeast European countries.

"The completion  of the interconnector opens a new page in Bulgaria’s energy sector,” the country’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said at the signing ceremony in Sofia on Wednesday, according to a statement from the ministry.

The 2.1-km long pipeline section under the Danube river has to be completed in four months. The maximum design capacity of the 25-km long pipeline will be 1.5 billion cubic meters gas per year from Bulgaria to Romania and 500 million cubic meters in the opposite direction. In February, Habau won a tender to build the section under the Danube at a cost of  EUR 4.577 M free of VAT.

"We hope that after four months Bulgaria will have its first interconnector link operational,” Petkova said. “This is a step toward bringing to life the principles of Europe’s Energy Union – security and sustainability of supply, competitiveness and affordable energy for consumers.”