A gas pipeline financed by the
European Commission, to cross Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria is being
under construction. On Monday, the Economy Ministry announced the European
Investment Bank is granting the national natural gas operator, Transgaz, some 50 million Euros to finance
the pipeline, this being the first installment of an approved loan worth 150 million Euros. The transaction
is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the financial
pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, known as the Juncker
Plan.
Also, as part of the project, the European Investment Bank will
support Transgaz to conduct a strategic environmental assessment for its 10
year development plan. The pipeline will connect Romania’s natural gas resources on the Black Sea Coast both to the
national gas transport network and the BRUA corridor. The gas conveying systems
in South-Eastern Europe will be connected to those in Central and Western
Europe. The project announced by the European forum is aimed at building a 308
km long gas transport pipeline and the needed surface infrastructure.
The
pipeline will connect the existing gas transport system to the new BRUA
corridor in Podisor, west of Bucharest. The Vice-President of the European
Commission responsible for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, has hailed this
project which he has said will contribute to tightening energy security and
enhancing diversity in the region, which has already been characterized as
being severely vulnerable in terms of natural gas supplies. Maros Sefcovic has also said this is another
brick in the construction of the Energy Union, thanks to which energy in the EU
will be safer, more accessible and sustainable. Sefcovic has also said this is
good news to gas consumers, as prices will go down.
In turn, the Romanian
economy minister Niculae Bădălău has said this is a firm commitment to
Romania’s energy security and proof of Romania’s capacity to develop and implement
strategic projects, with a positive impact on the whole of the European
Union. The Transgaz CEO, Ion Sterian, has
said the connection of the gas extracted from the Black Sea area to the
national conveying system on the Romanian and EU markets, respectively, is of strategic importance. He has said the financial support granted by
the European Investment Bank will significantly contribute to expanding the
national gas transport infrastructure.