Bulgaria-Romania Gas Pipeline to Open in August

The Austrian company Habau is to complete the long-anticipated first gas interconnector between Romania and Bulgaria by August 2016 after it signed a contract with the gas operators of the two countries - Transgaz and Bulgartransgaz in Sofia on Wednesday.

The 2.1 km-long remaining section of the pipeline, which crosses under the Danube river, will have to be finished in 119 days and will cost 4.577 million euros.

"The completion of the interconnector between Bulgaria and Romania opens a new page in the Bulgarian energy sector," Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said at the signing ceremony in Sofia on Wednesday.

She noted that she hoped the first interconnector in Bulgaria's history will be operation within four months.

The gas link between the Bulgarian city of Ruse and Giurgiu in Romania has a total length of 25 km, 15.4 km of which are in Bulgaria. The rest is in Romania, including the 2.1 km crossing under the Danube.

The pipeline will have a maximum transport capacity of 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Bulgaria to Romania, and an initial capacity of 500 million cubic meters per year from Romania to Bulgaria.

After the completion of the compressor station in the city of Podisor, Romania will be able to deliver 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Bulgaria, the head of Trasgaz, Grigore Tarsar, explained.

The Ruse-Giurgiu pipeline was initially due to be ready by 2013 and fully operational by 2014, but its completion was delayed several times owing to technical problems with the construction of the underwater section.

It is of key importance for Bulgaria, which is almost entirely dependent on Russia for gas and is struggling to diversify its energy supply.

After years of delays, in...