Bulgartransgaz re-Awards TS2 Tender
A consortium led by Italian Bonatti has won the tender for the 475-km Bulgarian section of TurkStream 2, running from the border with Turkey to the border with Serbia, the company announced May 28, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Its partners in the €1.12bn ($1.25bn) project are German construction company Max Streicher and Russian linepipe manufacturer TMK. They have until the end of next year to finish the job.
The earlier winner, a consortium comprising Italian Arkad ABB and Saudi Arkad Engineering & Construction, lost out because it did not submit all the necessary documents to Bulgartransgaz. The state-run company has to follow procurement rules carefully: the last time it failed to observe them, it led to the termination of the South Stream project.
Russian gas exporter Gazprom is planning to deliver gas to Serbia through Bulgaria, as it extends the 15.75bn m³/yr TurkStream 2 gasline into central Europe.
Bulgaria is also an Azeri gas client, contracted to buy 1bn m3/yr from state-run Socar. The volume can be increased. The project company behind the 3-5bn m³/yr Greece-Bulgaria line ICBG announced May 14 the winner of a tender to build its project and work began May 22. The final value of the contract will be €144.8mn ($160.6mn), with a portion coming from the European Union. It will take gas from the Greek section of the TransAdriatic Pipeline, the last leg of the Southern Gas Corridor which originates in Azerbaijan and terminates in Italy.
A source at Socar told NGW that TAP may complete just several months later than planned, owing to delays in the Italian sector. “It could be ready for gas deliveries in the second half of 2020”. IGB also would complete after March 2021, instead of previously planned late 2020,” he said.