Gas transmitter Eustream (source: Sme)
Slovak gas transmission system operator Eustream has signed a contract pertaining to the feasibility study for the Eastring: the Pan-European pipeline directly connecting central and south-eastern European countries. The Hungarian engineering and consultancy company Euroil will now elaborate on the study. The deadline is June 2018, Eustream informs on its website. Its outcomes will serve as the basis for next decisions on the project parameters.
“We have launched a new important phase of the project which will improve energy security for customers in central and south-eastern Europe” said Eustream’s CEO Rastislav Ňukovič as cited in a press release by Eustream.
The main purpose of the study is to define all necessary technical, economic, financial and environmental details of the future pipeline including optimal routing as well as carrying out in-depth market testing.
Following the signing of the contract in late August, the works on the study were initiated on September 5 in Bratislava. The first working meeting was held with representatives of Euroil as well as representatives of all Eastring project partners, i.e. Bulgarian TSO Bulgartransgaz, Romanian Transgaz, Hungarian FGSZ Zrt and Eustream.
50 percent of the eligible costs of the feasibility study will be funded by the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility fund. The study will be completed in June 2018 and its outcomes will serve as the basis for future decisions on the project parameters.
The Eastring pipeline is the EU’s Project of Common Interest (PCI) that will serve as an interconnection between western European liquid hubs and the Balkan region (an area with a potential to be a highly liquid region offering new natural gas sources from the Caspian region/eastern Mediterranean/Middle East region). The project will enhance the security of supply for the Balkan region as well as for the whole of Europe by creating a new corridor for new natural gas sources, and will help to improve competition by enabling the diversification of routes and sources.
