Romanian BRUA Section To Receive Loan
The European Investment Bank (EIB) said October 27 it will lend €50mn to Romanian state gas grid Transgaz to fund the BRUA pipeline in that country. BRUA's eventual route is from Bulgaria via Romania and Hungary to Austria, hence the acronym
The operation is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) under the Investment Plan for Europe (IPE), sometimes known as the ‘Juncker Plan’ after the EU Commission president. But one country on the BRUA route has been less than supportive of the project.
The new pipeline represents the Romanian section of the BRUA gas pipeline. This 'Transgaz-Brua Gas Interconnection' project -- estimated to cost over €500mn ($588mn) -- had already been awarded a grant of €179mn by the commission under its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and is a 478-km stretch between Podisor and Recas, including construction of three compressor stations located in Podisor, Bibesti and Jupa in Romania.
EIB Vice President Andrew McDowell said: “This strategic project implemented under the Investment Plan for Europe will interconnect the South-East and the Central European gas transmission infrastructure and eliminate the dependence of South-Eastern European countries on a single gas supplier” [Gazprom]. He said it would create 4,000 to 5 000 jobs during construction, and 300 to 400 positions during the pipeline’s operation.
Romanian economy minister Gheorghe Șimon said his government backs the upgrading project, while Transgaz chief Ion Sterian said: “This is an outstanding event for our company and for other Romanian and regional gas market players.”
However, Hungary signed agreements in July with Gazprom to link into the latter's 31.5bn m3/yr Turkstream gas pipe project, and Hungarian foreign affairs and trade minister Peter Szijjarto disparaged alternative gas diversification projects. A month later in August, OMV CEO Rainer Seele accused Hungary of refusing to build its section of BRUA, and said that would have implications for its future Neptun gasfield project offshore Romania.
Mark Smedley