MOL teams up with Transgaz for interconnector project
Wed, 6 August 2008
HUNGARIAN OIL and gas group MOL has announced that its FGSZ Natural Gas Transmission Co and Romania’s Transgaz have concluded a joint-development agreement with the aim of completing the interconnection between the two companies’ transmission systems, on the Arad-Szeged route. FGSZ, the owner and operator of the Hungarian high-pressure natural gas pipeline system, will develop the Hungarian pipeline section, whilst Transgaz, the operator of the Romanian transmission system, will develop the Romanian section.
Both parties will finance their respective sections of the pipeline from their own resources.
"The main purpose of the agreement – similarly to NETS project – is to improve the security of gas supply through the diversification of the transmission routes and sources of supply," MOL said in a statement. Initially, gas will be transported from Hungary to Romania through the pipeline, although at a later stage the flow may be reversed.
The Agreement specifies the stages to be achieved in order for construction and commissioning of the interconnector to be completed by the middle of 2010. The total length of the 28-in diameter pipeline in Romania is 61.7km (of which 36.7km has already been built), while 47km will be in Hungary.