Romania keen on Azeri energy
Romania is interested in the imports and transit of
Azerbaijani oil and is seeking to implement a project on liquefying
gas for European markets jointly with Azerbaijan and Georgia, its
Deputy Economy Minister Tudor Serban has said.
The two countries signed a cooperation document in Baku on Tuesday expressing Bucharest’s interest in importing Azerbaijan’s energy resources.
"We hope that an operating company will be established in 2010 with the support of the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Romanian governments under the project on compressing Azerbaijani gas and delivering it to Europe," Serban told reporters.
The project envisions building a plant or a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal over two to three years in Georgia and simultaneously another such terminal in the Romanian port of Constanta, where Romania's state gas company Romgaz is already developing plans for an LNG import terminal.
The annual capacity of each of the facilities is estimated at 3-20 billion cubic meters.
Another option is liquefying gas on the vessels by Georgia’s Black Sea coasts, for its deliveries to Romania, which will be used both for domestic consumption and for further exports to Bulgaria, Serbia and other European countries.
Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev has said Baku was interested in the LNG export project. He also said the BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which extends from Azerbaijan to Turkey through Georgia, should have an additional stretch to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Supsa, a Black Sea port city in western Georgia.
According to the minister, Azerbaijan will assume a commitment to supply the planned enterprise in the neighboring South Caucasus republic with raw materials over 20 to 30 years.
The time frame and value of the project on delivering LNG to EU markets have yet to be determined. Unconfirmed reports suggest, however, that it could be implemented from 2016, during Phase 2 of developing Shahdaniz, Azerbaijan’s largest gas field in the Caspian Sea that holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters.*
The two countries signed a cooperation document in Baku on Tuesday expressing Bucharest’s interest in importing Azerbaijan’s energy resources.
"We hope that an operating company will be established in 2010 with the support of the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Romanian governments under the project on compressing Azerbaijani gas and delivering it to Europe," Serban told reporters.
The project envisions building a plant or a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal over two to three years in Georgia and simultaneously another such terminal in the Romanian port of Constanta, where Romania's state gas company Romgaz is already developing plans for an LNG import terminal.
The annual capacity of each of the facilities is estimated at 3-20 billion cubic meters.
Another option is liquefying gas on the vessels by Georgia’s Black Sea coasts, for its deliveries to Romania, which will be used both for domestic consumption and for further exports to Bulgaria, Serbia and other European countries.
Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev has said Baku was interested in the LNG export project. He also said the BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, which extends from Azerbaijan to Turkey through Georgia, should have an additional stretch to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Supsa, a Black Sea port city in western Georgia.
According to the minister, Azerbaijan will assume a commitment to supply the planned enterprise in the neighboring South Caucasus republic with raw materials over 20 to 30 years.
The time frame and value of the project on delivering LNG to EU markets have yet to be determined. Unconfirmed reports suggest, however, that it could be implemented from 2016, during Phase 2 of developing Shahdaniz, Azerbaijan’s largest gas field in the Caspian Sea that holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters.*
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