Transgaz launches tender for Black Sea gas pipeline

Romania’s state-run Transgaz, the operator of the country’s natural gas transmission system, has opened a tender for the construction of the Black Sea – Podisor gas pipeline, with an estimated cost of 287 to 330 million euros, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced.

Transgaz has applied for a loan from the EBRD in order to finance the construction of the pipeline, the banks confirmed in a statement.

The pipeline is part of a larger project aimed at developing transmission capacities that would allow the market delivery of natural gas from newly developed Black Sea offshore fields, diversifying sources of gas supply to consumers in Romania, and expanding the transmission network to Central European markets by interconnecting with the BRUA (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria) pipeline and allowing access to the future major gas infrastructure projects such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as well as gas hubs in Central Europe.

In May, Transgaz said it has obtained the right to start construction of a pipeline linking the country’s Black Sea shore to the national transmission system and BRUA. Completion of the project is estimated for the end of 2021.