Gazprom delegation visits Romania

The meeting was also attended by the Romanian Economy Ministry’s State Secretary Tudor Serban, heads of Romgaz S.A. and Transgaz S.A. – Marcel Piteiu and Florin Muntean, as well as Alexander Churilin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Romania.
During the meeting, the parties took notice of the issues of bilateral cooperation in the energy sector. The meeting discussed prospects for Russian gas imports, a partnership with Romgaz in developing underground gas storage facilities, and with Transgaz – in gas transit. In addition, potential joint efforts in power generation were addressed.
“Relations with Romania in the energy sector are considered as strategic and we are sure that cooperation between our countries will grow further. For many years, mutually-beneficial partnership ties have been maintained – last year we marked the 30th anniversary of Russian gas supplies to Romania. We are going to keep making a significant contribution in ensuring the energy security of our European partners, including those in Romania,” said Alexander Medvedev.
The Romanian party confirmed the interest in participating in the South Stream project and provided the Russian party with the data requested earlier and required to prepare a feasibility study for a possible pipeline route across Romania.
Russia has been supplying natural gas to Romania since 1979. According to preliminary data, in 2009 the country was supplied with 2.04 billion cubic meters of gas by Gazprom export.
Russian gas is exported to Romania under two long-term contracts effective until 2030.
For the purpose of diversifying natural gas export routes Gazprom is planning to construct a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to South European and Central European countries – the South Stream project.
The capacity of the offshore section of the South Stream will make up to 63 billion cubic meters per annum.
In order to construct the onshore section abroad, intergovernmental agreements were made with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece and Slovenia. A similar intergovernmental agreement is to be signed with Austria.