Bulgaria and the region can now actually break almost completely with Russian natural gas supplies. If they want to, that is. Since 1 October, Gastrade's long-awaited liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Greek city of Alexandroupolis has been fully operational. This is a historic event as the facility is one of the most important energy projects at European, regional and local level. It was designed, built and managed by Gastrade, in which Bulgartransgaz has a 20% stake. In other words, Bulgaria owns one fifth of the gas terminal on the Aegean Sea.
The start of the project is of utmost importance because the infrastructure can secure gas supplies from the USA, Qatar, Egypt and beyond. This will improve liquidity in the region and lead to more competitive prices.
The 3rd of October marks the official opening of the facility. In the run-up to this, the operator of the interconnector with Greece, ICGB, has announced that the gas link from Komotini in Greece to Stara Zagora is now ready to carry gas from the new LNG terminal. ICGB is working on an interconnection agreement with Greek gas operator DESFA, with both operators committed to ensuring secure, safe and efficient interoperability in commercial operations at the new interconnection point.
In the monthly capacity auction for October, ICGB has offered interested bidders a capacity of 48,044,459 kwh/day for the Komotini point. "This is a key step to ensure that the IGB pipeline can accommodate the transportation of volumes of natural gas that will become available to the market. The two infrastructures are highly synergistic and we expect that the commissioning of the LNG terminal will positively impact market interest in the existing and planned capacity of the interconnector," ICGB executives Theodora Georgieva and George Satlas have said.
New route
The terminal is important as it will "feed" the so-called vertical gas corridor, which is seen as an alternative route for Turkish Stream to Central Europe and which will operate on a fully competitive basis and under European capacity reservation rules. The IGB pipeline is already connected to the Trans-Adriatic pipeline and to the Bulgartransgaz gas transmission system. The new interconnection agreement with DESFA will allow interested parties with reserved capacity at the LNG terminal to transport gas via the IGB, thus creating a new, reliable natural gas supply route for Southeast and Central Europe, the company said.

The capacity of the interconnector is 3 billion cubic meters per year with the potential to reach 5 billion cubic meters per year, with ICGB already having committed to expanding the capacity as a strategic step towards securing access to natural gas supplies from diversified sources. It is also a key project within the Vertical Gas Corridor, bringing together transmission operators from the region, including Moldova and Ukraine. Currently, 14 Greek and international companies are involved in the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal for commercial purposes, having committed almost all its capacity until at least 2030. The first quantities of liquefied gas for Bulgaria at the new terminal will be provided by Total. The French company is the winner (in competition with nine other international companies) in the tender for LNG supply for October.
"We want this infrastructure project to act as a benchmark of excellence," Gastrade managing director Kostis Sifnaios has said. According to the company's shareholder and founder Elmina Copelouzos, the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal is much more than a business project. "It is a tangible proof of the opportunities we have in Greece to create European infrastructures that solve the problems of our time," she said. Gaslog CEO Paolo Enoisi and Maria Rita Galli, CEO of DESFA, also noted the project's key role, while DEPA Commercial CEO Konstantinos Xifaras said it was the start of a new chapter in the region's energy story.
"The start of the commercial operation of the terminal is a key milestone in the overall efforts to ensure diversified supplies and guarantee energy security not only for Bulgaria but also for the South East Europe region. The decision by 2020 for Bulgaria and Bulgartransgaz to become shareholders with a 20% stake in Gastrade has proven to be strategic,"Bulgartransgaz CEO Kiril Ravnachki said. In his words, the availability of this new storage and regasification capacity is of utmost importance for the countries of Southeast Europe, which are seeking to diversify their supplies and move away from Russian gas.
How it all began
The Alexandroupolis LNG terminal is a complex facility - there is a floating LNG storage and regasification plant, as well as a subsea and onshore pipeline that connects the plant to the national gas transmission system. Through it, natural gas supplies can be made to Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Moldova and Ukraine to the east, and to Hungary and Slovakia to the west.
The project has been in the works for almost a decade, but its actual implementation started in early 2022 when Gastrade takes its final investment decision. Construction work onshore and offshore at Alexandroupolis progressed rapidly and just a year later, construction of the floating LNG storage and regasification plant was launched in Singapore. The installation set sail from the Seatrium shipyard at the end of November last year and arrived in the waters of the Thracian Sea on 17 December 2023, where it docked. With the successful completion of all commissioning tests and the issuance of an operating permit by the Ministry of Energy and Environment last summer, the project has been brought to operational readiness, allowing operations to commence.
How deliveries at the new LNG terminal in Greece will affect prices in the coming months remains to be seen. But more importantly, with its commissioning, Bulgaria and the region will say goodbye to Russian gas deliveries and attempts at manipulation and arm-twisting over prices and gas supply for good. Something that should have happened many years ago.
Bulgaria and the region can now actually break almost completely with Russian natural gas supplies. If they want to, that is. Since 1 October, Gastrade's long-awaited liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Greek city of Alexandroupolis has been fully operational. This is a historic event as the facility is one of the most important energy projects at European, regional and local level. It was designed, built and managed by Gastrade, in which Bulgartransgaz has a 20% stake. In other words, Bulgaria owns one fifth of the gas terminal on the Aegean Sea.
The start of the project is of utmost importance because the infrastructure can secure gas supplies from the USA, Qatar, Egypt and beyond. This will improve liquidity in the region and lead to more competitive prices.