Europe avoids Russian monopoly
By Aygun Badalova
The countries most dependent on Russian fuel are looking for a way
out, amid Russia's efforts to promote its new pipeline project to
supply gas to Europe and open threats to deprive the EU of the only
current gas source.
This is where Azerbaijan comes in.
Bulgaria has recently signed an agreement with Romania and Greece
to build a link among the countries’ natural gas grids. The new
link, called "Vertical gas corridor", will be designed to provide
the country with alternative fuel supply - Azerbaijani gas.
This agreement can be seen as the reluctance of the European
countries to follow Russia’s tastes and jeopardize its energy
security.
“We are finally getting a new source of gas because until now we
were totally reliant on one source - Russia,” Bulgaria’s Deputy
Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said.
Such enthusiasm in Stankov’s words is explainable. Bulgaria is a
country that is 95 percent dependent on Russian gas imports.
According to BP, the gas consumption amounted to 2.6 billion cubic
meters in Bulgaria in 2013.
With the implementation of the Vertical Corridor project, in
particular, with the construction of its Bulgarian-Greek section
(Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, IGB), namely Bulgaria, will become
the first European country to receive Azerbaijani gas.
The issue of possibly starting the gas supply to this country in
2016 was discussed during the visit of Bulgarian President Rosen
Plevneliev to Azerbaijan in September 2014. That time, the sides
were talking about the supply of 200-300 cubic meters of gas per
year.
The gas supplies via the Vertical Corridor are expected to start in
2018. The pipeline’s capacity hasn’t been specified. However, 1
billion cubic meters of gas will be transported via the
Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, according to the previous
information. It is expected that this gas pipeline will be able to
ensure the reverse gas supplies as well.
Linking of the natural gas grids of such countries as Bulgaria,
Greece and Romania will allow to ensure the supply of Azerbaijani
gas further – to the South-Eastern European countries as well. The
gas from Romania can be delivered to Moldavia and Hungary with
which Romania’s gas grid has been linked.
The Vertical Corridor is being implemented as part of the Southern
Gas Corridor project, and it will become a part of the
Trans-Adriatic pipeline for supplying Azerbaijani gas through
Greece, Albania and further – to Italy.
It is expected to start the gas transportation via TAP in 2020.
Nevertheless, the implementation of the IGB project and connecting
of the existing systems to it can allow to supply Azerbaijani gas
to the European market earlier than 2020.
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