Thanks to the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB), natural gas purchased from Azerbaijan or other countries can reach not only Southeast Europe, but also Moldova and Ukraine through Bulgaria.

Axar.az reports that international expert, former US Deputy Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza told Report while commenting on the commissioning of the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector in Sofia.

"Bulgaria and Greece, which are very dependent on Russian natural gas, will now be able to buy blue fuel from Azerbaijan," said M. Bryza.

He emphasized that the role of Azerbaijan in the IGB is very important.

"The IGB pipeline is important in terms of increasing competition between both suppliers and buyers of natural gas."

The expert noted that thanks to IGB, Greece and Bulgaria will also have the opportunity to buy gas through Turkey's liquefied natural gas terminal.

It should be noted that today the gas pipeline connecting Greece and Bulgaria was put into commercial operation. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev took part in the commissioning ceremony held in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

IGB is connected to the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline in Greece, which will allow the transportation of Azerbaijani gas produced in the Shah Deniz field to Bulgaria.

The state company "Bulgargaz EAD" has signed an agreement with the "Shahdeniz" consortium for the supply of 1 billion cubic meters of gas from the "Shahdeniz-2" field. Azerbaijan's natural gas will be able to meet 25-30% of Bulgaria's demand.

A 150-kilometer section of the pipeline with a total length of 182 kilometers passes through the territory of Bulgaria. The annual transmission capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 3-5 billion cubic meters.