Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.15
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Romania intends to propose the signing of a memorandum of understanding for linking the RO-BG (Romania-Bulgaria) Interconnector and the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) pipeline to the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, Secretary of State with Romanian Ministry of Energy Iulian -Robert Tudorache said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“I want to highlight that last year, at our first participation to the meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor, we proposed to the Consortium to take into consideration, for the future stages of expansion, the infrastructure offered by the Interconnector between Bulgaria and Romania and the BRUA pipeline. Having in mind the excellent progress of the BRUA project, at this year’s meeting we would like to propose to the Advisory Council of the Southern Corridor the evaluation of the interest in signing a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the opportunities for using the transport infrastructure provided by the RO-BG Interconnector and the BRUA pipeline, in the forthcoming stages of expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor,” he said.
Tudorache noted that this would have a positive impact for many countries in the region, in terms of increasing regional energy security, diversifying sources and routes of energy supply and reducing the energy vulnerabilities.
“The link between BRUA and SGC is in line with the interests of extending the Southern Corridor infrastructure to the Balkans and Central Europe through a safe and efficient transport infrastructure,” said the deputy minister.
More than that, Tudorache said that in the context of Romania`s permanent efforts to increase its energy security, the Romanian public-owned company ROMGAZ, which is the greatest producer and the main natural gas supplier in Romania, have in plan to send a Letter of Intent to the Southern Gas Corridor Consortium related to the interest in purchasing gas from the volumes that will be transported through this infrastructure.
“Romania particularly appreciates the active participation of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the joint efforts to increase Europe's energy security, as well as the decisive role in the development of the Southern Gas Corridor,” he added.
Talking about the BRUA project, the deputy minister said it will physically ensure the continuous bidirectional flow between Romania, on one hand, and Bulgaria and Hungary, on the other hand, at the following capacities:
transmission capacity to Hungary of 1.75 bcm/year, respectively of 1.5 bcm/year to Bulgaria, after the completion of Phase 1;
transmission capacity to Hungary of 4.4 bcm/year, respectively of 1.5 bcm/year to Bulgaria, after the completion of Phase 2.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.
The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.
Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) have been recently connected on the Turkish-Greek border.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn