Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 18
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
Tesla and Eastring gas pipeline project have been included in the European Commission's updated Project of Common Interests (PCIs) list.
Tesla is a proposed gas pipeline with a length of 1,300-1,400 km and the estimated capacity of 27 billion cubic meters, which is designed be laid from Turkey across Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, ending in the Baumgarten gas hub in Austria.
Eastring is a pipeline project which proposes to connect the existing gas infrastructure between Slovakia and Romania/Bulgaria. Eastring will transport natural gas from different areas and alternative sources - in its first stage it will provide the Balkans and/or even Turkey with gas from the European gas market. In its final stage, when its bi-directional mode should be in place, Eastring will transit prospective Romanian Black Sea natural gas, Caspian and Middle East natural gas to Europe.
The European Commission adopted on November 18 a list of 195 key energy infrastructure projects, known as projects of common interest, which will enable the gradual build-up of the Energy Union by integrating the energy markets in Europe, by diversifying the energy sources and transport routes.
A budget of 5.35 billion euros has been allocated to trans-European energy infrastructure under the CEF from 2014-2020, helping projects of common interest to get implemented faster and making them more attractive to investors, the report said.
The list of projects is an update of the PCI list adopted in October 2013. The list includes 108 electricity, 77 gas, 7 oil and 3 smart grids projects.
Since the adoption of the first PCI list in 2013, 13 projects have been completed or will be commissioned before the end of 2015. Furthermore, some 62 projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2017
The list of PCIs is updated every two years with the aim to integrate newly needed projects and remove obsolete ones.