December 12 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said it will grant Romania 38 million euro ($40.1 million) under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to expand the underground natural gas deposit in Bilciuresti, in Dambovita county.
The project will help Romania and the region reduce dependence on Russian gas imports during peak consumption observed in winter by increasing storage capacity and its overall flexibility, the EC said in a press release on Thursday.
"Increased cross-border interconnection of energy infrastructure is a key enabler for the European Green Deal, as it makes it easier to integrate more renewable energy into the grid. It was also a priority highlighted in the REPowerEU plan earlier this year to increase the EU's security of supply," the EC said.
On Thursday, the Commission announced that member states will receive 602 million euro in EU funds in eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects under the CEF for Trans-European Networks for Energy.
This paves the way for financial aid to implement the projects in electricity, including one for smart electricity grids, CO2 networks, underground gas storage and an offshore LNG terminal, according to the EC.
In early November, energy minister Virgil Popescu said that Romania has in its deposits 3 billion cu m of natural gas, the equivalent of 97.7% of its entire storage capacity, stressing that the country will not face any supply shortages this winter.
With a capacity to store 1.3 billion cu m of natural gas per cycle, the Bilciuresti deposit is the biggest of six operated by Depogaz Ploiesti, a subsidiary of natural gas producer Romgaz [BSE:SNG]. The six deposits cover 90.5% of Romania's total natural gas storage capacity, according to the company's website.
Romgaz's shares traded 0.12% higher at 41 lei ($8.8/ 8.3 euro) on Monday at 1312CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
($= 0.9472 euro)
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