Hungary will be compelled to continue the BRUA (Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria) pipeline directly to Austria only if it proves to be economically feasible, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) ruled while also designing the tests for evaluating the project technically and financially.

This opens the door for a factual decision on the HUAT (Hungary-Austria) pipeline, which was initially part of the BRUA project, and put an end to political turmoil related to the topic.

ACER became responsible for issuing a decision on the HUAT project proposal after the regulators of the two countries failed to agree whether the project is feasible or not (the Hungarian side rejected it). The issue is of importance for Romania, which plans to use BRUA for selling its offshore natural gas on the European market, while also gaining access to Austrian natural gas hub at Baumgarten for potential imports.

The Hungarian natural gas transport operator FGSZ last year stated that the project is not economically feasible and proposed to use a route through Slovakia to bring the gas from BRUA to Austria. The country’s market regulator supported the conclusion and rejected the project.

The Hungary-Austria natural gas pipeline project, including Mosonmagyaróvár gas interconnection point between the two countries, shall be initiated if the economic test has a positive outcome on both sides of the Mosonmagyarövár interconnection point for at least one of the two offer levels proposed by the project promoters, ACER decided.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Shutterstock)