The Vertical Corridor, a European gas-pipeline system now planned to involve TSOs of seven countries – Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Ukraine – will require an estimated 450 million euros in investments, energypress sources have noted.
Greek gas grid operator DESFA’s share of this sum will be minimal as a compressor station at Komotini, northeastern Greece, is all it will need to contribute to the project. All other upgrades to Greece’s gas grid, which, once completed, would enable the country to serve as a Vertical Corridor entry point, are already under development.
Officials of the six other countries participating in the project through initiatives taken by local TSOs believe that 50 percent of the project’s budgeted cost would need to be covered by EU funds if Vertical Corridor is to be materialized.
Project participants will push for political commitment from the European Commission by March as the upcoming European elections and any leadership changes would result in delays.
This issue was raised during a two-day ministerial conference staged by the Central and South-Eastern European Gas Connectivity Group (CESEC) in Athens last week, a gathering attended by European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, but no indications of Brussels’ stance were offered.
Vertical Corridor project members are now expected to intensify their call to the European Commission for political support regarding the project’s development.
Following an initiative taken by Slovakia, an MoU was signed at the CESEC meeting in Athens to bring Moldova and Ukraine into the Vertical Corridor project.
Besides TSOs from the seven participating countries, Gastrade, a consortium established by the Copelouzos group for the imminent Alexandroupoli FSRU at Greece’s northeastern port of Alexandroupoli, and ICGB, the consortium behind the Greek-Bulgarian IGB gas pipeline, are also involved in the Vertical Corridor initiative.