Romanian state-owned natural gas producer Romgaz and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the cooperation between the two companies.
The MoU envisages the joint project for the construction of gas liquefaction plant, a regasification plant, as well as all other installations and facilities needed to transport natural gas from the Caspian region to Romania via the Black Sea.
The concept for this project is similar to the AGRI project (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) drafted in 2010 by the Government of the three countries (Georgia as a transit country) and the only difference is the replacement of Hungary with Moldova as the primary beneficiary of re-exports from Romania. Hungary still holds a 25 % stake in the AGRI project company, but the project is considered frozen for indefinite period of time.
Romanian Prime Minister Niculae Ciuca said that Romania is also looking for solutions to bring gas from the Caspian area through the Trans- Anatolian (TANAP) pipeline through Turkey and Bulgaria and to transit it from Romania to the other beneficiary countries, one of them being Moldova. He said that it is a commitment of Romania and Azerbaijan to be able to supply Moldova with the necessary amount of natural gas.
The signatories intend to initiate the joint preparation of a study which to identify the technical, financial, and commercial feasibility of such project, and based on the results of such study, to commence negotiations with the aim of reaching an agreement on the terms and conditions of the development of the Black Sea LNG Project.
