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.