Last week EU member states adopted the European Commission proposals for investing 217 millions Euro in 15 trans-European projects designed for energy infrastructure. The source of this financial plan is the so-called European Interconnection Mechanism with a 5.35 billions Euro budget for 2014-2020 financial period which aims to modernize trans-European energetic infrastructure.
EP rapporteur for this mechanism, Adina Vălean (MEP&EP Vicepresident), stated after the Council’s decision:
“I’ve always believed that it is not enough to keep Nabucco project as the single target for Romanian energy policy. For the last three years I’ve strived for a financial mechanism in order for Romania to have cheap and secure gas. Over the course, Nabucco has failed and the financial instruments became a reality. Therefore, the list of European common interests projects reaches now 15 Romanian projects.
Through this pipeline that links resources from the Black Sea shelf and connects the South Corridor we are able to transform energetic independence from a desideratum to a certainty”.
BRUA gas pipeline (n. red – Interconnection project for Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria) will have a maximum capacity for 1.5 billions cubic meters towards Bulgaria and 4.4 billions towards Hungary. The implementation term of the project is 2019, and the estimated value reaches 560 millions Euro, with 179 millions being EC contribution.
The project is very important for the EU natural gas market, because it allows the transportation to Central Europe of Caspian region gas and from other potential sources, like liquefied natural gas, according to a European Commission press release.
“Transgaz and the Romanian Government have brought BRUA project to a matureness level that allowed the construction of this pipeline, ensuring a co-financing option of 179 millions. It is the first major funding through this new mechanism designed for energetic infrastructure and I hope that this is the first step to a new era of secure gas supplies in Romania.
I am convinced that Romania can build more in the future and that it will succed in becoming a transactional gas hub in Eastern Europe”, concluded Adina Vălean.
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