Break in Russian gas monopoly: Arad-Szeged tap, officially turned on

The Arad-Szeged pipe, the only project breaking the monopoly of supplying the Romanian market with Russian gas, was yesterday officially opened though natural gas imports started in late August, with Petrom as the first company to use this path.

The completion of this project with an over 100 km length and entailing investments worth around 70m euros is vital as over the past 30 years the entire gas import needed to cover domestic consumption has come from Russia through two pipes transiting Ukraine and entering Romania through Isaccea (Tulcea county) and Medie[u Aurit (Satu Mare county).
Of the 109 km of the pipe, 62 go through Romania, with Transgaz, the national natural gas transmission company, and FGSZ Natural Gas Transmission Close Company, Hungary’s gas shipping company, part of MOL oil group, as the investors in the project.
The annual transportation capacity of Arad-Szeged will stand at 1.4 billion cubic metres, while in the case of Nabucco it will top 30 billion.