New gas interconnection agreement between Bulgaria and Greece

Gas network operators in Bulgaria and Greece have signed an interconnection agreement allowing market players to transport gas - including from liquefied natural gas sources - between the two countries for the first time, starting 1 July 2016.

The European Commission has welcomed the agreement as a crucial step towards implementing EU rules on one of the last cross-border points in Europe where to date historic transit arrangements, tailored to a single company, prevailed. The agreement is also the first step in giving access to other market players - for north- or southbound deliveries - along and beyond the important Trans-Balkan gas corridor between Greece, Turkey, FYROM and Ukraine.

The achievement is part of the broader Central and South Eastern Europe Gas Connectivity (CESEC) initiative launched in 2015 by 15 countries from the EU, the Energy Community, and the European Commission with the objective of diversifying gas supplies and increasing security of supply in the region.

This interconnection agreement between the Bulgarian network operators Bulgartransgaz and the Greek network operators DESFA will soon be followed by similar agreements between the Bulgarian and Romanian and the Romanian and Ukrainian network operators respectively and a follow up on an agreement signed in 2015 between the Hungarian and Ukrainian network operators.