Bulgaria competition watchdog re-instates Saudi firm Arkad as gas grid capacity expansion contractor
Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has ruled to re-instate Saudi Arabian Arkad Engineering as the winner in the tender to design and build the expansion of Bulgaria’s domestic gas infrastructure, needed in order for the country to handle the transiting gas from the Turkish Stream pipeline.
Last month, Bulgaria’s gas grid operator Bulgartransgaz changed its decision and dropped Arkad Engineering as the contractor, in favour of the second-placed bidder in the tender – a consortium including Italy’s Bonatti, the Italian subsidiary of German firm Max Streicher and Luxembourg-registered Completions Development Sàrl, which Bulgarian media linked to Russian pipe manufacturer TMK.
Bulgartransgaz said at the time that the Saudi firm did not provide all the paperwork required by law, despite several postponements, and sought changes to the draft contract, which would have breached the terms of the public tender.
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(Photo: jarpur/sxc.hu)
