Bulgaria’s public gas network operator Bulgartransgaz has announced the launch of a €68.4 million tender for the drilling and construction of new wells as part of a project to expand Bulgaria’s Chiren underground natural gas storage (UGS) facility.

A view of the Bulgartransgaz storage facility. Credit: Bulgartransgaz website
Bulgaria’s public gas network operator Bulgartransgaz has announced the launch of a €68.4 million tender for the drilling and construction of new wells as part of a project to expand Bulgaria’s Chiren underground natural gas storage (UGS) facility.
The call for proposals covers spatial planning, investment design, supply of necessary materials and equipment, construction and commissioning of underground wells at Chiren, Bulgartransgaz. The deadline for submitting offers is May 4.
The activities within the scope of the procurement procedure will be financed out of the gas network operator’s own funds and a grant awarded under the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, Bulgartransgaz said. The European Commission in January granted €78 million to Bulgartransgaz to fund the expansion of Chiren UGS, which is seen as crucial for the security of gas supply in Southeast Europe.
This is the fourth tender by Bulgartransgaz relating to Chiren’s expansion project, which foresees a near-doubling in gas storage capacity to upto 1 billion cu m from the current 550 cu m. The daily injection and withdrawal capacities are also projected to rise to upto 8 million cu m and 10 million cu m per day, respectively, the company has said.
In mid-March, Bulgartransgaz invited bids for 2 contracts worth an estimated €153.7 million for the construction of above-ground infrastructure facilities as well as of a pipeline that would connect the Chiren storage facility to the company’s gas transmission network at Butan, northwestern Bulgaria.
There is also a third open procedure to select an operator for the capacity reservation platform at the interconnection points and the internal points of the gas transmission network, data from the public procurement portal shows. That tender is worth €39 million and like the other two, has a deadline of April 20 for submitting proposals.
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