Romania is open to investing in the Gazprom pipeline South Stream, not just the EU Nabucco project, designed to reduce energy dependency on Russia, Romanian minister of economy Varujan Vosganian (Liberal) said last Thursday, EU Observer informed.
A Gazprom delegation is expected in Bucharest this week, just a month ahead of general elections.
"Romania is ready to support any EU project, both Nabucco and South Stream," the Liberal minister, whose party is at odds with the country's conservative President Traian Basescu, said, newswires report.
Recently, Mr Basescu renewed his calls on the European Commission and EU member states to "accelerate Nabucco," in order to decrease the EU's energy dependency on Russia.
Earlier this month, director of Gazprom Alexey Miller has conducted a series of talks in Moscow with the leaders of the Romanian companies “Transgas” and “Romgas” for supply of gas to Romania till 2030 -- Russian business daily Kommersant reported on October 20.
According to the edition the possibilities for attracting Romania in the “South stream” project as well as the possibility the country to substitute Bulgaria have been discussed.
A source from the Russian ministry of energy confirmed to “Komersant” that the possibility Bulgaria to be substituted by Romania in the project was being explored (in this case the route is shortened with 100 km), but refused to give details.
Initially Romania was seen as an alternative to Serbia. However, in the last half year all legislative hurdles in the relations between Serbia and Romania within the “South stream” project were cleared up.
The arrangements for the gas pipeline with Sofia, Budapest and Belgrade were reached in 2007. However, the Bulgarian authorities insist on the part of the pipeline which crosses Bulgarian territory to be property of the state, while “Gazprom” wants it to be Russian. Similar problems emerged in Serbia and Hungary.
Apparently the main problem for the realization of the “South stream” project is not the impossibility for negotiations with the East European countries but the general mistrust of the European Union towards Russia and “Gazprom”.
On the EU summit on 1 September this year the European leaders unanimously decided to distinguish the sources of energy supply. At first they will concentrate all their efforts in the implementation of the “Nabucco” project, which is a direct rival of “South stream” and should supply gas to Europe from the Caspian region by eliminating Russia.
The Romanian company “Transgas” and the Bulgarian “Bulgargas” are shareholders in the “Nabucco” project. This is why the aim of the talks with Romania is to persuade Sofia or Bucharest to participate in “South stream” and not “Nabucco”.
Gazprom is now negotiating a new long-term deal for gas supplies to Romania and chief executive Alexey Miller met Romanian ambassador in Moscow Constantin Grigorie, as well as the heads of two Romanian state-owned gas companies, the previous week, the daily said.
The meeting was focused on prospects for developing and creating new transit capacities, as well as co-operation for storage of gas underground,Kommersant quoted Gazprom as saying. Talks will continue in the near future with Vlad Rusakov, the head of Gazprom's strategic development department, scheduled to visit Bucharest.
If they go well, Gazprom could redirect South Stream to pass through Romania, a source familiar with the talks told Kommersant. Another source in Russia's Energy Ministry has confirmed for the newspaper that the prospect of replacing Bulgaria with its northern neighbour was being discussed, but declined to give more details.
Gazprom is likely trying to persuade gas operators Bulgargaz in Bulgaria and Transgaz in Romania to ditch their stakes in Nabucco, the European Union-backed gas pipeline that would link gas fields in the Caspian Sea to Central Europe, passing through Turkey and the Balkans. Nabucco is seen as a direct competitor for South Stream and the EU has recently stepped up efforts to build the pipeline to diminish its dependency on Russian supplies.
Redirecting South Stream to Romania would also cut down the costs of construction, since it would shave off about 100km of the underwater section of the pipeline, saving up to 12 per cent of the estimated $10 billion needed to build it, according to the head of East European Gas Analysis consultancy, Mihail Korchemkin, quoted by the newspaper.
Earlier in October, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported, quoting a strategy paper outlining the development of the gas industry in Russia, that South Stream faced a delay of two years and would become operational in 2015. By 2024, it would reach its full capacity and pump 31 billion cu m of gas annually.
which owns the project together with Italy's Eni, plans to finish the business plans for each individual country that the pipeline will pass through in the third quarter of 2009, the newspaper said.
Russia has already secured agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary for the transit of South Stream.
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