Asia Times: Romania joins big gas league

With potential ramifications for the entire Euro-Caspian energy complex from Central Asia to Central Europe, a new natural gas strike has been made in Romania's offshore sector of the Black Sea. This find will re-jig calculations around the European Union's Southern Gas Corridor while providing potential new sources of energy for East Central and especially Southeastern Europe. 

In that context, the potential for Romania to become a natural gas exporter to Southeastern and even East Central Europe comes into focus. The significance of the Romanian strike concerns the eventual choice by the consortium developing Azerbaijan's offshore Shah Deniz natural gas deposit, between the "western" (through Greece to Italy) route for its 10 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) gas and the "northern" (through Bulgaria to Southeastern Europe) route.   MORE