Romania will have a brand new gas pipeline
A new gas pipeline will link Romania to Central Europe
Bogdan Matei, 19.06.2023, 13:50
The National Company for the Transport of Natural Gas, Transgaz has signed a contract with Turkish company Kalyon Insaat for the construction of Tuzla-Podişor gas pipeline. According to a communiqué released for the Bucharest Stock exchange, the 500 million euro project consists in the construction of a 308.3 kilometer gas pipeline, linking the resources exploited in the Neptun Deep area in the Black Sea and the so-called BRUA corridor, which connects four EU members: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
According to Transgaz general director, Ion Sterian, after the Ungheni-Chişinău pipelines between Romania and the Republica Moldova, Tuzla-Podişor is the most important gas infrastructure project, a strategic one, essential in the energy security efforts and also included among the EU common interest projects. The new pipeline will be crossing the counties of Constanta, Calarasi and Giurgiu and will contribute to ensuring the necessary consumption of gas for the economy and population to creating the prerequisites for boosting private investment in the area, to supplying gas to the localities around it, to almost 185 thousand inhabitants, and over 500 public institutions (schools, mayor offices, clinics, cultural centers, etcetera).
The new Deputy Prime Minister of the government in Bucharest, Marian Neacşu, says the future gas pipeline will also be able to carry the 15 billion cubic meters of gas from the Caspian Sea, reaching Romania through the terminals in Turkey and Greece. These connections, director Sterian says, will allow Romania to become a major regional hub around the year 2027.
România, says its new Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, is a country with significant gas resources, a strategic transit point and a major regional player, which could contribute, thanks to its operational transport infrastructure, to the consolidated regional security. The political leaders statements have also been confirmed by statistics. Romanias gas imports in the first four months of the year went down by 45.6% as compared to the same period in 2022, shows data released by the National Institute for Statistics. The domestic output has increased by roughly 7 percent against the same period last year. The National Commission of Strategy and Prognosis has forecast a 2% increase in the local gas production and a 6.2% decrease in the imports this year.
(bill)
