BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.11
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
From the first participation, in 2018, at the Meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor, Romania underlined the active support and commitment to be concretely involved in the success of the Southern Corridor project, by adding new infrastructure elements to develop energy interconnectivity in the expansion stages envisaged for this project, Romania’s Minister of Energy Virgil Daniel Popescu told Trend.
“This is the case of the BRUA gas pipeline, which represents, together with the Interconnector between Romania and Bulgaria, an important link between the Southern Gas Corridor and Central Europe and the Balkans. The first stage of development of the BRUA gas pipeline was completed in November 2020, according to the implementation schedule, without any delays. The pipeline will ensure an adequate degree of interconnection with neighbouring countries and will create a new natural gas transmission route at regional level, from various sources of supply including the Caspian Sea area,” he said.
The minister pointed out that BRUA gas pipeline, an important component of the Vertical Gas Corridor, is an integral part of Romania's National Gas Transmission System and has a number of important strengths: a gas transport infrastructure already completed, safe and viable, that it addresses markets with significant consumption potential, such as the markets from the Eastern and Central Europe.
“The plans to expand the Southern Gas Corridor are of particular importance, as new gas suppliers are needed for the Balkan and South-Eastern European countries, which are still dependent on a single supplier. These plans must capitalize on and take into account the opportunities and needs of the European gas market as soon as possible, given the clear direction set at EU level for the energy sector from the perspective of fossil fuel use - a low-carbon economy. That is why all the opportunities we have in the natural gas sector must be capitalized without delay. Therefore, we hope to resume the bilateral talks with the Azerbaijani authorities to reach their agreement on the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding to analyse the opportunities for using the transport infrastructure offered by the RO-BG Interconnector and the BRUA gas pipeline in the future stages of the Southern Gas Corridor given the positive trade impact for the two sides and the importance of strengthening regional energy security,” said Popescu.
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