Effects of Arad-Szeged pipe start to be seen: 2% of overall gas imports bypass Gazprom

The operation of the Arad-Szeged pipe connecting the Romanian gas transmission system with the Hungarian one, and thus with other fuelling sources outside of Russia, is starting to produce its first effects, with around 2% of the overall amount of gas imported by Romania in 2010 being supplied through this interconnecting pipe.

Although the overwhelming majority of gas imports continued to come from Russia in 2010, this year the percentage of gas imported through Arad-Szeged could increase, considering that several companies, among which Romgaz, have announced their intention to use this pipe for their gas imports.

"525,137 MWh (i.e. 49,530.46 thousand cubic metres) have been imported in 2010. This pipe can be used to import gas at the current capacity of the gas metering station, of around 1.74 billion cubic metres per year," say representatives of Transgaz, the national natural gas transmission company.

Thus, considering this amount against last year's overall imported amount, of which 18% came from Russia, the gas transmitted came to account for 2% of imports and around 0.4% of Romania's overall gas consumption.