Feasibility studies on Romanian section of South Stream to be prepared

Октября 14, 2010

Led by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, the Company’s delegation paid a visit to Romania. As part of the visit, meetings were held with Emil Boc, Prime Minister of Romania and Ion Ariton, Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Environment of Romania.

The parties discussed the current status and the prospects for the Russian-Romanian cooperation deepening in the energy sector.
During the meeting with Ion Ariton, Alexey Miller and Florin Cosma, Chief Executive Officer of Transgaz S.A., signed a Memorandum of Intent to prepare feasibility studies for South Stream in Romania. The parties agreed to form a joint expert group to perform this task.
Provided the results of these feasibility studies are positive, Gazprom and Transgaz will bring forward the proposal on signing in the first quarter of 2011 a Russian-Romanian intergovernmental Agreement of Cooperation on South Stream. This Agreement would serve as a political and international legal framework for further implementation of the project in Romania.
In case of signing the intergovernmental Agreement, the parties will undertake the necessary efforts on concluding the relevant arrangements at the corporate level as soon as possible.
Natural gas has been delivered from Russia to Romania since 1979. In 2009 Gazprom supplied the country with 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas. Russian gas is exported to Romania under two long-term contracts effective until 2030.
Romania transits natural gas to Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey and Greece. In 2009 natural gas transit to these countries amounted to 12.5 billion cubic meters.
Set up in 2000, the state-owned Transgaz S.A. operates the national gas transmission system of Romania. The company is responsible for arranging transmission and international transit of natural gas, as well as for dispatch control of gas deliveries.