Greece Wants to Speed Up IGB Gas Pipeline Deal

Greece said on Wednesday it wants to overcome delays holding back a gas pipeline deal with Bulgaria, provided the project is financially viable.

The 180-km (110-mile)-long pipeline is to be built by a Greek-Bulgarian joint venture set up in 2011 and including Italian energy group Edison SpA.

It is part of a Western-backed pipeline project the United States wants Greece to focus on rather than a rival gas pipeline that Athens is discussing with Russia.

In July, Greek energy ministry officials told Reuters that the pipeline deal would be sealed within weeks. But it has fallen behind schedule, also because of snap elections held in Greece in September.

"There is a will to speed up the project and finally materialize it provided it is viable financially," Energy Minister Panos Skourletis said after meeting Bulgarian counterpart Temenuzhka Petkova and the U.S. special envoy for energy, Amos Hochstein.

Skourletis said he hoped to have a clearer picture and more "positive developments" next month.

The Interconnector Greece Bulgaria (IGB) project, part of the Southern Corridor infrastructure scheme to bring Caspian gas to Europe, is estimated to cost about 100 million euros ($112 million) and the European Union has approved about 45 million euros in funding to build the pipeline.

Greek and Bulgarian officials will meet in Sofia next week in an effort to settle outstanding issues, Skourletis said.


(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou)