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Giurgiu - Ruse gas pipeline completed at the end of 2013
The Giurgiu - Ruse gas pipeline, which will run beneath the Danube and will be part of the Nabucco pipeline will be completed at the end of 2013, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economy Rodin Traicu told a press conference on Tuesday.
'As far as the Giurgiu - Ruse pipeline is concerned, if there is trouble and Bulgaria no longer receives gas via the pipeline from the Russian Federation, our system must be capable to supply the Bulgarian system in failure mode. If our system crashes, we can instantly get gas from their system. We discussed all these aspects at the last meeting of the joint Romanian-Bulgarian cooperation commission.
The Giurgiu - Ruse pipeline will be part of the Nabucco project and will be completed at the end of next year. For the time being, the Bulgarian side has some legislative issues with the Danube undercrossing,' said Rodin Traicu.
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Economy announced that Transgaz had completed the technical project for the Romanian party, specifically the Giurgiu gas metering station and the ground segment running between this station and the point where the pipeline submerges the Danube on the Romanian bank.
The next steps in implementing the project consisted of carrying out the formalities for the joint procurement of the design contracts for the Danube undercrossing section and conducting the formalities for the procurement of the tubular stock for the segment running on Romanian soil.
The project's total estimated value (with figures eligible for EU co-financing) is 23.82 million euros, of which Transgaz is to cover EUR -10.09 million and Bulgartransgaz E.A.D.- EUR 13.72 million.
The interconnector has a transport capacity of maximum 1.5 billion cubic meters per year, and of minimum 500 million cubic meters per year. The project's implementation requires the construction of two gas metering stations at Giurgiu and Ruse, laying out a 7.2 km long pipeline between the Giurgiu metering station and the underwater crossing point on the Romanian bank of the Danube, and laying out a 15.4 km-long pipeline between the Ruse metering station and the underwater crossing point on the Bulgarian bank of the Danube. The project also involves the undercrossing of the Danube by mounting a two-way pipeline set with a total length of 4.14 km.
The Bulgaria - Romania gas interconnection project between Giurgiu and Ruse is aimed at increasing the security of natural gas supplies to Romania and Bulgaria through the diversification of natural gas sources for the two countries, and ensuring the continuity and security of gas supplies to residential and industrial consumers if a crisis situation occurred in the supply of the two countries with Russian gas. Bulgaria started in the second half of August the construction of the gas interconnector.