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Energy Minister Sebastian-Ioan Burduja and Transgaz Director General Ion Sterian signed financing contracts worth 93.58 million euros for the construction of the Black Sea - Podisor and Ghercesti - Jitaru natural gas transmission pipelines.
"In the current geopolitical context, it is vital that projects to strengthen the natural gas transport infrastructure (hydrogen ready) obtain the funding allocated to Romania. I have said since taking office that I have three priorities: investments, investments, investments. These contracts financed from the Modernisation Fund are another step towards achieving the priorities I have set out. The financing contracts signed today (Tuesday - editor's note) are essential for the future transport of natural gas from Neptun Deep, which will give Romania not only the status of energy independence, but also that of the main natural gas producer in the EU. I will support Transgaz also from now on in its efforts to obtain non-reimbursable financing and other types of financing for the investment projects that the company is considering," said Burduja.
According to a press release of the Ministry of Energy, on the basis of the EC Decision No C(2023) 3643 final of 30.05.2023, financing from the Modernisation Fund was granted for the two projects for a total non-reimbursable amount of 93,582,770 euros. The amount of 85.544 million euros was allocated for the construction of the Black Sea - Podisor natural gas transmission pipeline and 8.038 million euros for the Ghercesti - Jitaru natural gas transmission pipeline, including electricity supply, cathodic protection and fibre optics.
The benefits of financing and carrying out these investment projects are: ensuring energy security at European and national level by strengthening the natural gas transmission infrastructure, providing additional volumes of transmission and diversifying energy sources by taking natural gas from the Black Sea basin extraction area; the supply of natural gas to the administrative-territorial units along the route that the new infrastructure crosses, implicitly increasing the standard of living of Romanians; support for the economic environment, by creating the necessary infrastructure for the development of new capacities for the production of electricity from natural gas, an aspect that generates both new jobs and economic development at national and regional level.
