Bulgarian state-owned gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz said that it selected two consortia in a 586.7 million levs ($325.3 million/300 million euro) tender to expand infrastructure as part of an initiative to build a gas corridor linking Greece and northern Europe.
In 2016, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary reached an agreement to develop the required infrastructure for the so-called Vertical Gas Corridor, enabling bidirectional gas transmission among the participating countries. Ukraine, Moldova and Slovakia joined the initiative earlier this year, according to Seenews.
The tender, divided into three lots, envisages spatial planning, investment design, material and equipment delivery, along with construction and commissioning of new sites for infrastructure expansion at the Kulata-Sidirokastro and Negru Voda-Kardam interconnection points, Bulgartransgaz said in a statement.
The DZZD Hill International-GBS consortium led by U.S.-based construction consulting firm Hill International and Bulgarian construction group Glavbolgarstroy (GBS) was picked as the contractor for two of the lots related to looping from Kulata to Kresna and from Rupcha to Vetrino.
At the same time, the DZZD Negru Voda Kardam 2024 consortium, comprising U.S.-based engineering solutions provided Divicom, Romanian construction company Habau and local firm SA.I.E was chosen to carry out works on a gas transmission pipeline from Piperevo to Pernik.
The price offered by DZZD Hill International-GBS consortium is 131.8 million levs for one lot and 353.2 million levs for the other, while DZZD Negru Voda Kardam 2024 proposed a price of 99.98 million levs. All bids are within the estimated budget, Bulgartransgaz noted.
Bulgartransgaz aims to increase the transmission capacity from Greece to Bulgaria at the Kulata-Sidirokastro interconnection point and from Bulgaria to Romania at the Negru Voda-Kardam interconnection point.
In April, the gas transmission operator launched a 15 million levs tender for reversing the Kardam compressor station at the Romanian border and expanding its control system’s capacity as part of the gas corridor project.