KAVALA, Greece — Greek Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister for Economic Diplomacy and Extroversion Kostas Fragogiannis and US Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Francis Fannon toured the energy facilities in Komotini and Kavala, northern Greece, on Tuesday.

Fragogiannis and Fannon both participated in Greek-American talks during the visit of US State Secretary Mike Pompeo in Thessaloniki on Monday and the meetings he held with Greek FM Nikos Dendias.

The two ministers visited the worksite of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) natural gas pipeline that will connect Greeece (at Komotini) with Bulgaria (at Stara Zagora), and were briefed by contractor Avax on the progress of the project, which is expected to be completed fairly close to the original timeline despite the coronavirus pandemic, in July 2021.

They then paid a visit to Energean's facilities in the port city of Kavala, where they were briefed on plans for a natural gas storage facility under ground.

Energean, which holds licenses for exploitation in Prinos (oil) and South Kavala (natural gas), proposed to the EU that the nearly depleted deposit of South Kavala be converted into a gas storage facility, a project that ended up being incorporated the European Projects of Common Interest. The storage space has a capacity for up to 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas.