Transgaz concluded a number of 110 new connection contracts with UATs from different counties and a number of 26 contracts with different industrial consumers that meet the conditions stipulated in Law 123/2012. The total natural gas requirement for the 110 UATs, according to the submitted applications and the concluded connection contracts, is 426,276 Smc/h, and corresponds to an annual flow of 3.683 billion Smc/year. The total natural gas requirement for the 26 commercial companies, according to the applications submitted and the connection contracts concluded, up to this date is 924,405.00 Smc/h and corresponds to an annual flow of 7.98 billion Smc/year.
According to Ion Sterian, the general director of Transgaz, Romania’s gas consumption will double in the next four to five years, with the transition of large thermal power plants from coal to gas, but also with the connection of new towns to the network, according to Financialintelligence.
Ion Sterian said that many localities are interested in connecting to the gas network, through the Anghel Saligny project, and this will have the effect of an increase in consumption at the level of the country. More precisely, it will increase by 3-4 billion cubic meters per year.
At the same time, Ion Sterian believes that gas production from the Black Sea will no longer be sufficient to satisfy domestic consumption, and Romania will need, at the level of 2027-2028, 4-5 billion cubic meters of gas annually, in addition to of production from the Black Sea, gas that will come from imports from Azerbaijan and from the LNG terminals in Greece, such as Revithusa, Alexandropolis 1, and others that are in the final investment decision making phase such as Alexandropolis 2, Argo from Volos in Greece and the LNG terminals in Turkey, according to the Memorandum of Understanding of the Vertical Corridor.
Transgaz could take a 10% stake in the floating LNG terminal at Alexandropoulis
Transgaz has long expressed its intention to become a shareholder of the Gastrade company that operates the new floating LNG terminal in the Greek port of Alexandropoulis, and now it seems that the shareholders of Gastrade are considering expanding the shareholding structure with one more investor, probably Transgaz, according to EnergyPress from Greece.
According to EnergyPress information, there is a positive response from the shareholders for the entry of a Romanian entity (probably the Transgaz state network management company) into the share capital of Gastrade with a percentage of approximately 10%.
Ion Sterian has been involved for a long time in the development of projects for alternative gas transport from other parts of the world. His lordship also launched, developed and promoted the initiative of the Vertical Corridor for gas transport from the south to the north since 2016. Now, after almost eight years, the idea is taken up by several member states of the European Union, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, but also by to the USA.
The Vertical Corridor is a project in which several states from the south and east of Europe are involved, with the massive support of the US and the EU, including through development financing, and which should ensure the distribution of LNG in the region that will be unloaded in Greece .
The full activation of the Vertical Corridor will allow gas to be transported from south to north and vice versa via European natural gas and LNG transmission systems, leveraging the increased capacities of new and developing FSRUs in the area. This potential can be further expanded by using the aforementioned renewable gas and hydrogen infrastructures.