EU will fund the Romanian Transgaz 179MEUR interconnection projects with Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria.
The European Commission said it will grant Romanian gas transmission company Transgaz [BSE:TGN] 179 million euro in support of the development of an interconnector linking the gas networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
“This is an important development for the EU gas market as this will allow gas from the Caspian region and other potential sources, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), to reach Central Europe,” the Commission said in a press release.
The project envisages the development of a natural gas transmission network with a total length of 550 km and a capacity of 1.5 billion cubic metres per year toward Bulgaria and 4.4 billion cubic metres per year toward Hungary. Its due for completion in 2019 and its cost is estimated at 560 million euro ($610 million), data from Transgaz website showed.
The EU financing is part of a 217 million euro package in support of key trans-European energy infrastructure projects, mainly in Central and Southeastern Europe. In total, 15 projects were selected following a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), an EU funding programme for infrastructure. The selected projects will increase energy security and help end the isolation of member states from EU-wide energy networks, while contributing to the completion of a European energy market and the integration of renewables into the electricity grid, the Commission said in a press release.
