Romania has an excellent collaboration with Azerbaijan and has had a Strategic Partnership with this country for many years, given that we have always been a reliable, honest, serious, and pragmatic partner, Ion Sterian, the CEO of Transgaz, declared. He is currently in Baku for the Ministerial Meeting of the 11th Advisory Council on the Southern Gas Corridor and the 3rd Advisory Council on Green Energy. According to Mr. Sterian, Azerbaijan will supply gas to Romania if needed.
Regarding the Southern Gas Corridor, Mr. Ion Sterian said: “Romania supports the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor to the Balkans. Our involvement has been decisive in making this objective operational, through Transgaz’s transformation of the Trans-Balkan Corridor and the Transi 2 pipeline on reverse flow, which has a capacity of 14 billion cubic meters and transports gas to Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Moldova, quantities required by Romania until the Black Sea gas is exploited, when many gas-based electricity production capacities will come into operation.
We have a program to connect towns to the gas network, whereas growth in consumption is already noticeable. This year, many distribution networks will be put into operation, and we will have higher gas consumption than in the previous year. On April 1st, we started storing natural gas, preparing the necessary volumes to ensure that the coming winter does not catch us unprepared, with full stocks to get through the cold season well.”
In Baku, Ion Sterian had meetings with Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov. He also participated in the meeting between Minister Sebastian Burduja and Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, with SOCAR and Romgaz officials.
Mr. Sterian also met with officials from the German company Uniper, who wish to invest in the bio-methane sector, which will be injected into the gas transport pipelines.
Another meeting was held with representatives of the EBRD and Minister Burduja regarding financial assistance programs for Romanian companies in the energy infrastructure sector.
Ion Sterian also met with his counterparts from BOTAS Turkey, FGSZ Hungary, Bulgartransgaz Bulgaria, and with the Energy Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Dorin Junghietu.
The Ministerial Meeting of the 11th Advisory Council on the Southern Gas Corridor and the 3rd Advisory Council on Green Energy was convened today in Baku. Representatives from 24 partner governments and 52 institutions and companies joined this event. The meeting highlighted the strong commitment of the European Union and the Republic of Azerbaijan have to their strategic energy partnership, which covers the supply of affordable, stable, and secure natural gas, promotion of renewable energy, energy efficiency, hydrogen production, methane emissions reduction, and environmental protection.
The Southern Corridor is intended to replace Russian natural gas.
