Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) project is not just an issue of strategic thinking; it is first of all an issue of commercial interest, says Romanian ambassador to Georgia Radu Liviu Horumba.
“For the moment, we have discussed the feasibility study that was done and this discussion continues at the governmental level,” the ambassador said in an interview with Georgia Today.
He pointed out that the price of oil, to which the gas price is connected, is lower today, compared to years ago. Therefore, some of the calculations have to be revised to see if the project is still feasible, added the ambassador.
“You have to look at the developments in the region and look very carefully into the capacity of suppliers and the demand of buyers,” said Horumba.
Earlier, Suleyman Gasimov, vice-president for economic issues at Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR said that AGRI project is not dead, but its implementation needs time.
AGRI project envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Black Sea coast of Georgia via gas pipelines. Azerbaijani gas delivered to Georgia's Black Sea coast will be liquefied at a special terminal and following this, it will be delivered in tankers to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta.
Further, it will be brought to the gaseous state and sent via Romanian gas infrastructure for meeting the demands of Romania and other European countries.
The cost of the project will vary from 1.2 billion euros to 4.5 billion euros, according to the preliminary estimations.
The participants of the AGRI project are SOCAR, Georgia's Oil and Gas Corporation, as well as MVM (Hungary) and Romgaz (Romania).
The parties established the SC AGRI LNG Project Company SRL in February 2011 for the implementation of the project.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn