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ROMGAZ supports completion of the Southern Corridor as a first step of national strategic intentions
On the fifth annual meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council (SGC Advisory Council), taking place Wednesday in Azerbaijan, Romgaz restated its support for the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, while considering to continue the transmission infrastructure by finalising the Bulgarian-Romanian Interconnector and BRUA Project, in the context of developing the relationship with Azerbaijan and the potential partnership with SOCAR.
According to the company, Romgaz CEO, Adrian Volintiru signed the “Letter of Intent” addressed to SGC Advisory Council, chaired by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. Romgaz expressed in this formal letter the interest to analyse the opportunity to use the Southern Corridor infrastructure to secure natural gas supply safety and the possibility to diversify the gas sources both for our country and for neighbouring countries as well.
Romgaz is the largest natural gas producer and the main supplier in Romania. The main shareholder is the Romanian State owing a 70 percent stake.
Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR has played an important role in the Romanian distribution market since 2011 through its subsidiary SOCAR Petroleum S.A.. The company has 40 filling stations in 18 Romanian regions.
ROMGAZ and TRANSGAZ, two of the most important Romanian companies in the natural gas sector, have long-standing cooperation relationships with SOCAR.
Recently, SOCAR has expressed its interest in cooperation with Romania’s ROMGAZ company in exploration and production of gas in the Black Sea, while Romanian company voiced its intention to cooperate with SOCAR both on the onshore area of Azerbaijan and on the offshore area in the Caspian Sea as well.
Romania and Azerbaijan also cooperate in the implementation of AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) energy project which is aimed at diversifying the energy supply sources of the European Union and involves the transport of Azerbaijani natural gas to Romania and Central Europe.
AGRI project envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Black Sea coast of Georgia via gas pipelines. Azerbaijani gas delivered to Georgia's Black Sea coast will be liquefied at a special terminal and following this, it will be delivered in tankers to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta.
AGRI highlights the important contribution that liquefied natural gas (LNG) could bring to the EU’s energy security in line with the objectives of the European Commission Strategy for LNG and natural gas deposits.
Furthermore, AGRI may be considered as additional supply route for the BRUA interconnector (which is expected to connect the natural gas transmission systems between Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria) currently under execution. The countries, engaged in the BRUA project may take over some of the gas volumes that could be available through the Southern Corridor's infrastructure.
Earlier, Romania’s Transgaz company and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that envisages strengthening cooperation in the gas transportation, studying opportunities to use Romania’s potential in the gas transit and distribution at the expense of gas supplies from Azerbaijan, the Caspian region and other promising directions, jointly studying the possibilities of cooperation in the supply and trading of natural gas and LNG in the Romanian market on the basis of long-term contracts and spot trading as part of the AGRI project.
The MoU signed with the view of joint participation in projects of wide regional interest and in the context of linking the Southern Gas Corridor to the Vertical Corridor. Once the link between the Southern Gas Corridor and the Vertical Gas Corridor will be physically established, Caspian gas volumes could be delivered to the Romanian, to the neighboring and to the Central European gas markets.
Romania has been the first EU Member State to establish a Strategic Partnership with Azerbaijan in 2009 that provided both countries with a solid framework to develop the bilateral contacts and cooperation in various fields.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
Perhaps this is one of the most ambitious projects in the world of oil and gas industry, as well as a complex target that involves a large number of different stakeholders - including seven governments and 11 companies.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.
(Source photo:romgaz.ro)