Romania’s natural gas transmission company, Transgaz, has signed a work commencement order with a Turkish construction company for the execution of the Tuzla-Podisor gas pipeline, a EUR 500 million project aimed to bring natural gas from offshore Black Sea perimeters to the BRUA corridor – BRUA is a project for a pipeline linking the gas transmission systems of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
The Tuzla-Podisor gas pipeline is also necessary for the transportation of the 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas that would come to Romania from the Caspian Sea area, via LNG terminals in Turkey and Greece, Transgaz director general Ion Sterian points out. It is important that the gas infrastructure is completed by the time the exploitation of natural gas from the Neptune Deep offshore block in the Black Sea begins, Sterian added.
The works commencement order comes three months after Transgaz signed on March 16 the capacity booking contract with OMV Petrom and Romgaz for the entry/exit point of Tuzla, where the natural gas from the Black Sea (Neptun Deep) will enter the national transport system – NTS.
The Tuzla-Podisor pipeline of 308.3 km in length is a project worth an estimated 500 million euro ($548.4 million), Transgaz declared in a press release.
As a project of common EU interest, it has as of yet obtained financing of 85 million euro.
The Tuzla-Podisor gas pipeline allows the creation of a transmission infrastructure linking the natural gas from the Neptune Deep offshore block to the BRUA corridor, and it represents a project of particular importance for Romania in terms of ensuring and strengthening energy security.
The works commencement order comes three months after the signing ceremony of the natural gas transmission contracts concluded by Transgaz, OMV-Petrom and Romgaz as a result of the capacity booking procedure for the NTS entry/exit point for the natural gas from the Black Sea – i.e. Tuzla – which was held on 16 March at the Romanian Government headquarters as well.
The „Black Sea-Podisor natural gas transmission pipeline” project is included in the NTS 10-year Development Plan, in the list of EU projects of common interest and has been submitted for funding through the Modernisation Fund, obtaining a financing of euro 85 million. The funding gap will be covered by a competitive financial mix.
The pipeline is located in the south-eastern part of the country and crosses 3 counties: Constanta, Calarasi and Giurgiu, i.e. 42 territorial administrative units (TAU). This investment will significantly contribute to increasing the security of natural gas supply in Romania, to diversifying the natural gas supply sources, to the social-economic development of the crossed areas, by creating new jobs, both during the implementation of the project and during the operation period.
The Tuzla – Podisor gas pipeline will contribute to ensuring the necessary natural gas consumption for the economy and the population, to creating the conditions for stimulating private investments in the area, to providing additional income for the crossed TAUs, to supplying natural gas to the localities in the project area, i.e. to approximately 184,221 inhabitants and 523 public institutions (schools, town halls, dispensaries, cultural centres, medical practices, etc.).
Romania’s new PM proposes ‘economic patriotism’ to overcome economic crisis
