Romania's Transgaz criticizes Bulgaria for not completing gas interconnector with Greece

Ion Sterian, the CEO of Romanian natural gas transport system operator Transgaz, which recently announced it completed its BRUA section (not including the extension to the Black Sea), expressed disappointment with the sluggish completion, on the Bulgarian side, of the interconnector with Greece (ICGB).

"ICGB, a 182 km gas pipeline with a value of about EUR 220 million, included in the European Commission's program of Projects of Common Interest, and financed by the EU, has not been completed so far, 10-12 years after [it was sketched]," Sterian said, according to Economica.net.

Transgaz and its Hungarian peer have contacted the Bulgarian partner for the completion of the Vertical Corridor (toward Greece), but the Bulgarians have not answered, he added.

The ICGB would allow BRUA to have access to non-Russian gas (through the Trans Anatolian Pipeline) and LNG gas from Greece's LNG terminal, resulting in a real resource diversification for the region, Sterian explained. TAP is bringing natural gas to Europe from the Azeri gas field Shah Deniz.

Currently, BRUA has access only to the South Corridor, which is bringing Russian gas to Europe. The only diversification would thus be that instead of importing Russian gas from Ukraine, Romania can now, after the completion of BRUA, import Russian gas through Turkey and Bulgaria.

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