The European Investment Bank has granted a 50 million Euro loan to Romania to finance the pipeline which connects the newly discovered gas deposits in the Black Sea to the national and European gas conveying pipelines
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.
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