Azernews.Az

Georgia and Romania will continue to cooperate in the construction of AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) pipeline to transport liquefied natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, Georgian GHN news agency reported.

This agreement was reached during a meeting in Bucharest of Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean with his Georgian counterpart Grigol Vashadze.

"During the meeting we discussed a number of issues of energy cooperation between Romania and Georgia, including the continuation of cooperation in AGRI gas pipeline construction, which will allow to arrange liquefied natural gas supplies from the Caspian Sea area to Europe," Corlatean stressed.

In addition to the pipeline, the foreign ministers also discussed the construction of a ferry crossing between the sea ports of Romania and Georgia in the Black Sea.

AGRI is currently at the stage of a feasibility study development, so the estimated amount of investment that will be needed to implement it has not yet been determined.

The feasibility study will be ready in fall, presumably in September, after which the economically reasonable location for construction of a terminal for liquefied natural gas on the Black Sea coast of Georgia will be selected. Based on this document, the amount of investment required for the planned activities on the territory of Georgia will be determined.

The feasibility study of the project is being prepared by British engineering company Penspen, which was determined on the basis of a tender.

At this stage, the project participants are four states -- Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary. In February 2011, the parties established a joint venture for the project - SC AGRI LNG Project Company SRL.