A consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Arkad Engineering and Construction won a tender to build a pipeline for the expansion of the gas transmission network to carry Russian gas across Bulgaria, according to Bulgaria's state network operator Bulgartransgaz on April 3.
Bulgartransgaz said it successfully completed the public procurement for the selection of a contractor to supply the necessary materials and equipment, investment design, construction and commissioning of the expansion of the gas transmission infrastructure.
Bulgartransgaz said that of the three associations that submitted offers, the winning consortium was Saudi Arabian engineering firm Arkad and Swiss-based technology firm ABB.
'The selected consortium had offered the most economically advantageous tender in line with the awarding criterion announced beforehand in optimal correlation quality and price,' according to a statement from Bulgartransgaz.
The expansion of the pipeline infrastructure will transfer natural gas from Turkey to Serbia across Bulgaria.
Bulgaria aims to secure a link to the joint Russia-Turkey project, the TurkStream pipeline, to Serbia and Hungary.
The TurkStream twin pipeline will have a total capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters out of which 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas will be sent to Turkey while the remaining share will be transferred to Europe via Turkey.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr