Ukraine may use Romania for transit of Azerbaijani gas

Ukraine may use Romania as a transit country to import Azerbaijani gas from the TAP if Greece and Bulgaria also make the necessary investments to interconnect the gas pipeline with the Romanian transmission system, Report informs referring to the Romanian website Profit.ro.

The Romanian natural gas transport system operator Transgaz wants to invest 300 million euros in partnership with its Ukrainian peer GTSO, which would add another 35 million euros, so that starting with 2026, Romania can export 6.9 million cubic meters of gas per day to Ukraine through the interconnection point from Mediesul Aurit.

Notably, around the same time - toward the end of 2026 or in early 2027, the offshore perimeter Neptun Deep is expected to begin production, in case the transaction between Romgaz and Exxon is completed and the Offshore Law is amended in the first quarter of this year.

According to the consulting company Ryastad, Black Sea Deep could boost Romania’s natural gas production from 8.7 billion cubic meters in 2020 to 14-15 billion cubic meters per year in 2027-2029. Thus, Romania could export 20-25% of its domestic production.

Сonstruction of the IGB interconnector, which provides a two-way connection between the gas transmission systems of Bulgaria and Greece, is planned to be completed by July 1, 2022.

The IGB will connect Komotini in northeastern Greece, where TAP meets TANAP, and Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria. The length of the gas pipeline will be 182.6 km, 150 km of which will pass through the territory of Bulgaria. The throughput capacity of the gas pipeline will be from 3 to 5.5 billion cubic meters per year, and in the future - up to 10 billion cubic meters per year of gas if there is demand.

The TAP pipeline, which connects the coast of Salento (Italy) with Albania, Greece and Turkey, transports gas produced in Azerbaijan in the amount of up to 8 billion cubic meters per year through this route.