The project of supplying liquified Azerbaijani gas to Romania involves
building two terminals in Georgia and one in Romania. The project's
preliminary expenses are estimated at 4-6 billion euros.
A memorandum was signed by Georgia and Romania in October 2009, while
a memorandum between Azerbaijan and Romania was signed earlier this
year. It involved the creation of a working group to sign this
agreement.
The issues now under consideration are the construction of a terminal
to refine Azerbaijani gas on the Georgian Black Sea coast (SOCAR owns
a gas terminal in Kulevi) and shipping it to Romania or Bulgaria for
further transportation through Europe's internal pipeline. The project
has two sides - LNG and CNG. The first side is constructing a factory
to produce liquified gas, the second is transporting the liquified gas
to ships for compression. The project is said to involve 7-20 billion
cubic meters of gas.
Rovnag Abdullayev, head of SOCAR, said that there are intentions to
carry out a technical and economical assessment (TEA) for exporting
gas from the Georgian Black Sea coast. "The TEA will allow us to find
the most beneficial variant for exporting gas via the Black Sea. We
have several variants including LNG export and CNG export. There's
also a transit opportunity through the territory of Turkey. The
variety of solutions will help us make the best decision", - he said.
According to Abdulaev, Romania and Bulgaria are interested in
exporting gas through the Black Sea, and all sides are working
together.
