The “Black Sea Coast – Podisor” strategic project, a major state investment for the exploitation and valorization of Black Sea gas, is at a very advanced stage of implementation, said Ion Sterian, the general director of the National Natural Gas Transport Company Transgaz SA. The construction of the gas pipeline respects the assumed schedule and, according to the head of Transgaz, it has a chance to be handed over before the deadline established in the execution contract.
The natural gas that will be extracted from the deep Neptun Deep perimeter – operated by OMV Petrom, an equal partner in the project alongside Romgaz – will enter the national transport system in the country, through the so-called Tuzla – Podișor gas pipeline, built by Transgaz.
According to the general director of Transgaz, in the next period the construction of the gas pipeline will be completed, there will be several months of technological tests and, according to the signed contract, on July 1, 2025, the gas pipeline will be operational.
“I assure you that my colleagues and I will take full responsibility to ensure that this implementation deadline is respected – it may even be delivered before the deadline, depending on the weather – considering that the Tuzla-Podișor gas pipeline is essential for energy security and for Romania’s economy, even more so in the current geostrategic context. It is vital that the gas infrastructure be completed at the time when the natural gas from the Neptun Deep offshore perimeter in the Black Sea will begin to be exploited”, said Ion Sterian, general director of Transgaz.
The head of Transgaz emphasized that the “Tărmul Mariă Negre-Podișor” gas pipeline will allow gas from the Black Sea to enter the NTS and thus reach economic operators and households in the localities connected to the system, being a strategic project, vital for energy security, its consolidation and sustainable development of the national economy.
“The operationalization of the pipeline is important in the context in which an increase in the demand for natural gas consumption is estimated for the coming years, taking into account the policies of decarbonization, i.e. of the replacement of coal for the supply of thermal power plants with natural gas, the completion of some investments in the industrial sector and the energy one, as well as the development and expansion of the SNT, in order to connect all localities to the gas infrastructure”, said Ion Sterian.
After the pipes were produced in Turkey and arrived on ships in Romania, the first welding of the gas pipeline that will fully take over production from Neptun Deep was done on November 14, 2023, according to the information provided by the general director of Transgaz for Gândul.The gas pipeline Tuzla (Constanța) – Podișor (Giurgiu) provides the possibility of connection to natural gas for almost 185,000 inhabitants and 523 public institutions (schools, town halls, dispensaries, cultural homes, medical offices, etc.).
The General Director of Transgaz emphasized that, in addition to being a strategic project for Romania, the investment is also an opportunity to reconfirm our strategic objectives and coagulate joint efforts to achieve the objectives at the regional level – energy security, diversification of energy sources and reducing the effects of the crisis energy, sustainability.
The gas pipeline will connect with the new sources of natural gas in the Trans-Balkan Corridor and the Vertical Corridor of which the BRUA pipeline is a part.
This major project, included in the Development Plan for the National Natural Gas Transportation System for the period 2022-2031, is necessary to be able to transport the 15 billion cubic meters of gas that would come to Romania and from the Caspian Sea area , from the LNG terminals in Turkey and Greece.According to the head of Transgaz, the first molecule of natural gas will be extracted from Neptun Deep and transported from the Tuzla Podișor gas pipeline starting from the fall of 2027.
The operator of the Neptun Deep project, OMV Petrom, and the Romanian producer that took over the American participation from ExxonMobil, respectively 50%, Romgaz, constituted a guarantee of 44 million euros each, so a total of 88 million euros.
According to the graph regarding the reserved capacities on the pipeline, the estimated volumes of natural gas are 9,800 MWh transported hourly, which annually means 8.16 billion cubic meters of natural gas that will enter from the Neptun Deep perimeter in the Black Sea into the national gas transportation network natural.
In total, Romania has a network of natural gas transport pipelines of over 14,000 km, of which 481 km represent the BRUA Phase 1 gas pipeline (operational starting from 01.12.2020).
Transgaz is a company majority owned by the Romanian state, through the General Secretariat of the Government, in a proportion of 58.5%, and had, on Friday, a capitalization of 4.53 billion lei. The operator is in the Top 3 in terms of market value growth in the last calendar year.
