FRENCH Gaz de France is understood to be interested in the construction of a pipeline that would connect Romania with Bulgaria and Hungary, Romanian press reports cited GdF president Jean Francois Carriere as saying in Bucharest in late November. “We are interested in participating in the construction of Giurgiu-Ruse and Oradea-Szeged gas pipelines in order to connect the gas market and optimize our client’s portfolio,” Romania’s Mediafax quoted Mr Carriere as saying at a conference.
He added that Gas de France would not only invest in the construction of the pipes, but it was also considering how to provide gas to the network. Mr Carriere declined to say how much money GdF would have for the project. Both projects are being developed by Romania's natural gas pipeline operator Transgaz Medias SA.
Ioan Rusu, CEO of Transgaz, said they would once again sit to the negotiating table with the management of Hungarian fuels group MOL to continue talks on the Oradea-Szeged gas pipeline. He said it was in the interest of both parties to link the pipes of their home countries, since there are clients interested in building the pipe. The Romanian government said in a statement that officials of Transgaz and MOL would meet to clear-up commercial and technical details about the 100-km long Oradea-Szeged pipeline, 60km of which would be in Romania and of which about a third has already been built by Transgaz.