site.bta Bulgaria, Greece, Romania Plan to Build Vertical Gas Corridor

Bulgaria, Greece, Romania Plan to Build Vertical Gas Corridor

Brussels, December 9 (BTA) - Bulgaria, Greece and Romania have
signed Tuesday in Brussels a joint statement on a natural gas
"Vertical Corridor" connecting the three countries. This
transpired from a joint statement of the energy ministers and
representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy,
Romania and Slovenia and European Commission Vice President
Maris Sefcovic who held a meeting here. It says that the "Member
 States and the Vice-President welcomed the joint statement" on
the Vertical Corridor signed by the three countries the same
day.

The representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece,
Italy, Romania and Slovenia as well as European Commission
Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic have met to
discuss gas infrastructure priorities for Central and
South-Eastern Europe and the aftermath of the announcement by
the Russian Federation and Gazprom about the abandonment of the
South Stream project.

The Member States directly concerned took note of the currently
unofficial nature of this announcement and invited the
Vice-President to clarify the situation with the Russian side,
the statement says. "All Member States agreed that the EU must
remain strongly committed to integrating Central and
South-Eastern European gas markets and diversifying gas
suppliers, sources and routes. This is also a key objective of
the Energy Union, one of the priority projects of the new
Commission".

The statement further highlights the importance of integrating
gas markets and the diversifying gas supplies. "This can be
achieved by implementing key regional projects (e.g. LNG
terminals with corresponding pipeline systems, connections to
the Southern Gas Corridor, or the development of East
Mediterranean and Black Sea offshore gas reserves), by improving
 interconnections within the region, in particular between
Bulgaria and its neighbouring countries, and by improving
North-South interconnections enabled with bi-directional flows.
New routes operated in line with EU law can also contribute to
increased security of supply in the region," the statement goes.

It says that it is crucial to swiftly complete projects already
underway and speed up development of projects of common interest
 identified as being of strategic importance.

The representatives of the seven Member States and the
Vice-President agreed to set up a high-level working group
consisting of the concerned Member States with the support of
the European Commission to coordinate these efforts and to
facilitate the development and execution of cross-border
projects as well as trans-European projects allowing for
diversification of gas supplies to the region. The first
deliverable of the high-level working group will be to develop
an action plan for integrating Central and South-Eastern
European gas markets and interconnections.