Gazprom Mulls New Gas Pipeline via Romania

Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller, the head of Romanian state-owned gas pipeline operator Transgaz Ioan Rusu and the head of state-owned gas producer Romgaz Francisc Toth have met in the Russian capital to discuss the cooperation, Gazprom said in a statement.

"Prospects of cooperation in undeground gas storage and the developing of existing transit capacities and creating new ones were discussed at the meeting," Gazprom said in a statement without providing further details.

A Gazprom delegation will visit Romania soon for detailed discussion, the statement said.

Gazprom and Italy's ENI will jointly build a gas pipeline projected to carry some 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually to help meet rising demand in Europe. The South Stream pipeline will stretch to Italy via Greece in the south and reach Austria in the north.

So far, Gazprom has signed agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary to build sections of the South Stream pipeline that begins at the Russian port of Novorossiisk and is to go 900 kilometres under the Black Sea to reach Bulgaria’s coast.

The project challenges a key Azeri gas supply project of the European Union seen as an alternative to Russian supplies, Nabucco. Romania is a partner in the Nabucco pipeline, which is expected to rival South Stream. The Nabucco project is designed to carry 31 billion cubic metres of Caspian natural gas to Europe.