Transgaz and E.ON join forces for Romania’s energy security

Romanian companies Transgaz and E.ON have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) planning to cooperate in order to consolidate Romania’s energy security by aligning and correlating the development strategies regarding the natural gas infrastructure with the European Green Deal provisions and other European legal provisions in the field.

According to Transgaz, the MoU provides for specific collaboration along several lines, and it highlights the companies’ interest in developing new directions to collaborate by identifying and committing to shared interest projects in order to develop and transform the natural gas transmission and distribution infrastructure so as to serve the energy consumers in the long run, with no polluting emissions.

Transgaz said that defining a common action plan to consolidate and extend the natural gas infrastructure in line with the strategic decision of considering natural gas a transition fuel, as well as stepping up the research on the role national natural gas infrastructure plays in accommodating green gases, especially hydrogen, through relevant information exchange, are two of the objectives targeted by the document.

Other points are preparing common proposals to Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) in order to issue technical regulations specific to the hydrogen and combustion gas mixtures areas, and setting the criteria for developing the infrastructure dedicated to hydrogen across Romania, in order to define the future transmission and distribution corridors.

Ion Sterian, General Director of Transgaz, stated: “SNTGN Transgaz has always been in the vanguard of Romania’s energy security development. We have succeeded that by interconnection projects, by the partnerships we entered into, by NTS developments. We have paid timely attention to the ramifications the European Green Deal and the new fuels will have on the European energy sector. That’s why we have decided to enter into this collaborative partnership with E.ON, because together we can generate the symbiosis to consolidate Romania’s energy security.”

“Transgaz has proven that it has the capacity to implement high-importance, complex investment projects, under conditions of economic efficiency and operational safety. Through our future projects, we will take further the mission we have assumed, with the same responsibility towards performance, competitivity, and for the sustainable development of the Romanian energy sector.“

Volker Raffel, CEO of E.ON Romania, said: “We want to bring together the know-how the E.ON group has at the European level with the one of Transgaz in order to develop the technologies and a resilient national infrastructure, well-prepared for the challenges of the future. Together with the natural gas infrastructure in place, the green energy transition can be much more cost-effective, and the long-term benefits for the consolidation of the energy security are obvious.“

At the end of 2022, Transgaz and gas systems operators from Greece, Bulgaria, and Hungary signed a MoU with the purpose to cooperate on the realisation of the Vertical Corridor, which will enable bi-directional flows of natural gas from North to South and from South to North.

They committed to exploring the technical specifications of new connections, pipelines, interconnections, and reinforcements of the existing networks and developing the planned projects in the region, taking into account the EU’s energy strategies and policies, as well as the relevant developments in the regional gas market.