BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 27. The Romanian side is interested in resuming discussions with the Azerbaijani side, on the sidelines of the upcoming Southern Gas Corridor Meeting in Baku, regarding Romania's access to gas volumes from Azerbaijan, Romanian Minister of Energy Sebastian-Ioan Burduja said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Romania is interested in diversifying natural gas supply routes and sources, ensuring a regulatory framework that supports national energy security. Romania has also promoted natural gas at the EU level as a valuable transitional fuel, and subsequent developments have demonstrated this potential. Countries cannot depend entirely on renewable energy production and there is a need to use natural gas capacities to support and balance the energy system,” said the minister.
Burduja noted that Azerbaijan exported 12.9 billion cubic meters to Europe in 2024, registering a 10% increase compared to 2023.
“At the same time, Azerbaijan committed through the MoU signed
with the European Union to double the volumes transported to the
European market through the Southern Gas Corridor by 2027, up to 20
billion cubic meters. Azerbaijan's special role as a reliable
supplier of energy resources to the European market is undeniable,
with significant demand for Azerbaijani gas at the European Union
level,” said the minister.
He pointed out that SNGN ROMGAZ SA (Romanian National Natural Gas
Company ROMGAZ SA) and SOCAR TRADING, the subsidiary of the
national oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, signed on
February 3, 2023, in Baku, a contract that provided for the
possibility of delivering quantities of Azerbaijani gas of up to 1
billion cubic meters, until March 31, 2024.
“The conclusion of this contract was proof of the good cooperation relations between the two companies. The contract took into account Romania's strategic objectives of security in natural gas supply and diversification of supply sources.
Moreover, SNGN ROMGAZ SA and SOCAR signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2022, through which the two companies proposed to continue their cooperative relations both in terms of perfecting the delivery mechanisms of Azerbaijani natural gas on the Romanian market, and in exploring new possibilities for collaboration in order to implement mutually beneficial projects in the energy field,” said Burduja.
Expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor
The minister pointed out that concrete steps are needed for the Southern Gas Corridor’s expansion in Southeast Europe and Balkans.
He noted that the state of volatility and uncertainty continues on the natural gas market, which is marked by numerous events that have brought new challenges and new concerns.
“The gradual abandonment of Russian gas and the diversification of supply sources and routes are undoubtedly a success, but we must understand that these necessary measures have at the same time brought new dimensions of complexity, despite the fact that there have been no major gas shortages since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The elimination of most of the Russian gas in the last three years has also made European gas markets more vulnerable to price shocks, in response to short-term disruptions, to the growing demand for liquefied gas from Asia or to the cold waves we have faced in the cold season,” said Burduja.
The Romanian minister pointed out that there are still countries in Europe calling for the resumption of Russian gas transit via Ukraine.
“There have also been a series of events at the height of the winter season that have further disrupted the European gas market, already strained by forecasts of low temperatures and declining gas storage levels in Central and Eastern Europe. After the temporary suspension of production at the Shah Deniz 2 field, which affected Azerbaijan’s natural gas supplies via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal recently stopped supplying gas to the DESFA network, raising further questions. Gas benchmark prices have risen in Europe as storage facilities in the region are emptying faster than usual and there are fears that refilling them next season will be difficult,” he added.
Burduja noted that although circumstantial factors led to this tense situation in the gas market, this phenomenon highlights the fact that currently on the gas market a high degree of filling of storage facilities at the beginning of the cold season may no longer be sufficient in the case of an unexpected event - a significant cold wave or an interruption in gas supply.
“Sometimes domestic production and gas storage prove their limitations. In all this amalgam of uncertainties and concerns, the Southern Gas Corridor has already completed four years of operation, proving with each passing year its essential contribution to securing and diversifying Europe's gas supply. The four years of operation of the Southern Gas Corridor have significantly changed the European gas market. Important progress has been made in expanding the natural gas infrastructure, facilitating its delivery to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor,” he added.
The Romanian minister noted that increased volumes of gas are needed on the European market, and this Gas Corridor can and must strengthen its strategic role in Europe's gas supply.
“We have all the arguments in favor of the Southern Gas Corridor
expansion process. There is a clear need for substantial additional
volumes and new suppliers, especially in the countries of Central
and South-Eastern Europe. Given the undeniable success of this gas
transport infrastructure and its particular importance in
strengthening Europe's energy security, concrete steps are needed
more than ever in the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor
expansion plans that also take into account the states of
South-Eastern Europe and the Balkans, in order to secure the
connection of these regions to the Southern Gas Corridor,
especially since there is a possibility of capitalizing on the gas
transport infrastructure in these countries.
For this to become a reality, there is a need for increased
cooperation between our countries, immediate actions and concrete
steps in the plans to expand the Southern Gas Corridor. Correlating
this strategic desideratum regarding the Southern Gas Corridor with
the second project of particular importance for energy security of
the submarine cable that we wish to implement together, on the one
hand, and the multitude of potentially disruptive events registered
in the global and European gas market in the last year, it would be
appropriate to consider organizing biannual working meetings in
this prestigious format, for a consolidated and more active
cooperation and a new impetus for coordinated actions in the
development of the dialogue between our countries,” said
Burduja.
He went on to add that Romania is a regional partner with an important, operational and viable gas transport infrastructure.
‘Through the BRUA pipeline, the Iași-Ungheni-Chișinău pipeline, the Trans-Balkan Corridor and operational gas interconnectors with neighboring countries, Romania already functions as an important regional hub for gas supply. We have been seeing for some time how important the reactivation of gas transport on the Trans-Balkan Corridor has proven to be, especially for the security of supply of the Republic of Moldova. I would like to welcome in this context the assistance package for the Republic of Moldova and the EU's ongoing support for the Republic of Moldova's energy sector to become fully independent and integrated into the European market. I would also like to underline the fact that the Neptun Deep project in the Black Sea is making very good progress, with works progressing according to plan, with our objective being to have the first production or what we call "first gas" in 2027. It is a project that will strengthen Romania's role as an energy player in the region. Romania will become the largest natural gas producer in the European Union,” said the minister.
Burduja noted that the "Black Sea-Podișor Gas Transmission Pipeline" project is one of the most important projects that the Romanian gas transmission operator Transgaz will implement to allow gas from the Black Sea to enter the National Gas Transmission System and, implicitly, the economic circuit.
“The Tuzla-Podișor gas pipeline is also necessary to be able to transport the potential volumes of natural gas that would come to Romania from the Caspian Sea area, from LNG terminals in Turkey and Greece or other sources. At the same time, TRANSGAZ, the operator of the Romanian Gas Transmission System, has ensured through significant investments the reverse flow capacity on the transit pipelines, so that the premises have been created on the territory of Romania for the full exploitation of the Trans-Balkan Corridor and the takeover of the gas reserves necessary not only for Romania, but also for other states in the region.
To all these steps, we add the increase from October 1, 2023 of the transport capacity of the Arad-Szeghed Interconnector, in the Romania-Hungary direction, up to 2.6 billion cubic meters/year, another important step aimed at providing increased transport capacities for alternative sources of natural gas coming from the south to the Central and Eastern European region, through cooperation between system operators from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia,” he said.
Burduja pointed out that Romania wants to actively contribute to the redefinition of European energy policies, to build a green and strong economy, but with the intelligent use of the resources it has, including natural gas.
“Our priorities are energy security, cheap energy and then clean green energy, in this order. After the end of Russian gas transit via Ukraine, the issue of EU resilience in terms of energy supply has become increasingly pressing. EU energy security is now much more closely linked to developments on global gas markets. Most EU countries have managed very well to replace gas volumes from the Russian Federation, but there are countries that continue to rely to a fairly significant extent on direct supplies from the Russian Federation. We should not forget that under the REPowerEU plan, the EU has set itself the objective of permanently ending Russian gas imports by 2027, a challenge that is also amplified by the ambitious targets that the EU must meet to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Therefore, the best way forward in the face of all these challenges is only one - strengthened cooperation between our countries, and this dialogue framework that the Southern Gas Corridor Meeting offers to our countries is an extremely valuable one,” he concluded.
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