The signing on February 16 of the two Greek-Bulgarian agreements on cooperation in the field of natural gas and oil marks another very important step in deepening our bilateral cooperation, perhaps with our most important Balkan ally. Over the past three years or so, we have reached relevant positive milestones that confirm not only the excellent level of our relations, but also our common vision of the role of energy as a catalyst for synergy and a factor of peace, and not as a weapon of geopolitical blackmail, which Bulgaria fell victim to last April year, when Russia unilaterally cut off gas supplies.

Since then, Greece has provided decisive assistance to Bulgaria in dealing with extreme situations by securing its supplies and by allowing Bulgarian companies to have unhindered access to Revitus, as well as by strengthening the reverse flow of networks at Sidirokastro and speeding up the completion of the IGB interconnection pipeline opened in July. 2022. According to DESFA, for the use of the National Natural Gas Network (NGS) of our country in 2022, the total export of the Network amounted to 2.58 DCM / E (billion cubic meters / year) and was directed almost entirely towards Bulgaria. This export was a historical record for our country, accounting for 34.5% of the total use of ESFA, and together with IGB they covered almost all the needs of Bulgaria.

Commissioning of the regasification terminal in Alexandroupoli in January 2024, completion of the increase in IGB capacity to 5 bcm. m/year from autumn 2025 and the prospect of doubling the capacity of the TAP gas pipeline to 22 bcm. m/year per year from 2028, they outline a framework for further deepening our energy cooperation with Bulgaria, creating an infrastructure that can also be used to transport hydrogen in the future. Greek and Bulgarian companies are already cooperating in the context of submitting important H2 projects as candidates for PCI projects.

These networks also allow, given the creation of new liquefied natural gas regasification terminals in Greece, joint cooperation between Greece and Bulgaria for the implementation of the so-called “vertical axis”, which will connect the Greek terminals with the Bulgarian and Romanian pipeline network. allowing – under certain conditions – the export of non-Russian gas to Moldova and Ukraine.

The strategic connection of our networks, as well as the natural gas markets of the two countries, at the same time requires the adoption of measures that institutionalize systematic mutual assistance between us within the framework of existing European rules. The Interstate Gas Security Agreement between Greece and Bulgaria, signed at Megaron-Maximos on February 16, allows Greek companies to store gas at the Bulgarian facility in Chiren, while granting similar access to Bulgarian companies in Revitus.

This agreement, similar to the one that Greece and Italy signed on the storage of natural gas, mutually enhances the sustainability of the energy security system of the two countries, practically strengthening the energy solidarity between us at a time of great uncertainty caused by the ongoing energy crisis that has not yet ended.

The IGB pipeline, combined with gas exports through the Greek network, covered all of Bulgaria’s needs last year.

In addition to the gas sector, there is a new dynamic dimension to bilateral cooperation related to the need for Bulgaria to become independent from imports of Russian crude oil as soon as possible. The construction of a Greek-Bulgarian pipeline from Alexandroupolis to Burgas, home to Bulgaria’s Neftochim refinery, could crowd out Russian exports and open up a new energy corridor between the Aegean and Black Seas controlled by the West, not Russia.

The Alexandroupolis-Burgas oil pipeline serves two main geopolitical priorities: a) the need for a quick and complete weaning of European economies from the export of Russian hydrocarbons and b) the creation of new routes bypassing the Bosphorus in the commercial, transport (railway) direction. network and energy infrastructure of the network. At the same time, this pipeline reduces the risk of a catastrophic environmental accident that could occur in the Bosphorus due to the glut of their use by dozens of tankers and hundreds of commercial and passenger ships plying the narrow sea passage between the European and Asian coasts of Istanbul.

This project deepens the strategic interaction between Greece and Bulgaria, confirming the role of energy as a multiplier of our strategic cooperation, which has already produced very important and tangible results, such as the IGB pipeline, FSRU Alexandroupoli and the new transmission line. connection Nea Santa – Marista, which will be completed in the coming months.

However, moving forward requires the direct support of the states involved, but above all the European Commission itself, as it serves the fundamental goal of the RepowerEU strategy: independence from Russian hydrocarbons by 2027. Beyond the energy level, the oil pipeline under consideration further emphasizes (together with the FSRU and the power plant) the strategic importance of the port of Alexandroupolis to the EU. and the US, stimulating the local economy with new direct and indirect jobs.

Dr. Theodoros Tsakiris is Associate Professor of Geopolitics and Energy Policy at the University of Nicosia.