(source: Sme)
The Slovak natural gas carrier Eustream, which introduced the project in November, has already met with representatives of neighbouring countries, partner carrier companies and the European Commission.
“In the near future memorandums on cooperation should be signed with countries via which the project Eastring will pass and these documents should contain basic parameters of their future cooperation on the project,” Eustream spokesman Vahram Chuguryan told the Venergetike.sk energy website. According to the website of the project, there are several variants of the route including those crossing as well as bypassing Ukraine. Its capacity might be up to 20 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.
The Eastring project has become more attractive since Russian gas giant Gazprom announced that it would halt transmission of gas via Ukraine after current transit contracts expire. Gazprom, according to its latest plans, even wants to export gas to Europe via Turkey.
“We are continuing to search for and meet with other potential partners while we register the interest of several renowned gas companies of European as well as international importance,” Chuguryan told the energy website. Meetings with Turkish and Azerbaijani gas companies are planned.
