Greece's Gastrade joins renewed MoU on gas corridor with Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary

The MoU, first concluded in 2017, was renewed in Athens by representatives of Greek natural gas grid operator DESFA, Hungarian peer FGSZ, Romania's Transgaz, Bulgaria's Bulgartransgaz, Gastrade, as well as ICGB, the independent transmission operator of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, Bulgartransgaz said in a statement.

The Vertical Gas Corridor will allow natural gas transportation between the networks of the four countries and is thus essential for improving energy connectivity, security and diversification in the region.

"The accession of Gastrade to the memorandum reflects the rising role of liquefied gas for the European gas mix in the long run. It will allow the achievement of the objectives to realise the initiative for the Vertical Gas Corridor that will ensure a route for the supply of significant gas quantities from the south to the north," Bulgartransgaz noted.

Improving national gas infrastructure in the four countries and building more interconnections is seen to contribute to the EU's energy wider energy priorities which have shifted since the start of the Ukraine war.

New infrastructure will eventually allow volumes of gas to be imported to other neighbouring countries as far as Ukraine.

According to a separate statement by ICGB, future cooperation on energy projects will be bolstered by the recent commissioning of the Greece-Bulgaria gas link in October.

"Currently, the interconnector has a maximum total capacity of 3 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year. In coordination with DESFA, we have the opportunity to increase this capacity up to 5 bcm per year, which should happen in sync with the commissioning of the LNG terminal at the Greek city of Alexandroupolis, expected in 2024," ICGB's joint CEOs Teodora Georgieva and George Satlas said.

The Greece-Bulgaria link already provides a connection to the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) making Bulgaria part of the Southern Gas Corridor.