The BRUA gas pipeline project, phases 1 and 2, and the Black Sea - Podisor transport infrastructure are energy priorities of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI); upgrading the storage facilities might also be considered in the future, the Ministry of Energy and Economy said.
According to the cited source, the upgrading of the storage facilities and particularly of those related to the BRUA route might be envisaged in the future, in the context of Romania's interest in BRUA being included in the Southern Corridor.
"The Three Seas Initiative is a flexible and informal political platform at presidential level that brings together the 12 EU member states between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The initiative is aimed at increasing convergence and cohesion, while at the same time reducing the economic development gap between various areas and EU member states, by increasing interconnectivity in the region, in the energy, transport and digital fields," the cited source said.
The basic principles of the Three Seas Initiative are the promotion of economic development, increasing cohesion at European level and strengthening transatlantic links.
The BRUA project aims to ensure access to new gas sources, as well as to facilitate the transport of Caspian gas to the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. The project has a bidirectional transmission capacity of 1.5 billion cubic meters per year to or from Bulgaria and 4.4 billion cubic meters per year to or from Hungary.