Slovakia, Hungary Launch Capacities for Test Period Till April 2015
Cooperation on a regional level increased over the last hours, amid an increasingly positive sentiment with respect to member states joining forces to foster energy security.
Following Maroš Šefčovič’s comments on security of gas supplies on Monday, Gazprom said that Ukraine’s prepaid gas will last till Friday. At the same time, Eastern European countries are trying to capitalise on this temporary calm environment to launch new projects and dust old ones.
Slovakia and Hungary will test an offer of gas transmission capacity at the Interconnector Veľké Zlievce (SK) – Balassagyarmat (HU) from the 10th of March till the 30th of April 2015.
‘Eustream would like to inform you that in cooperation with Magyar Gáz Tranzit ZRt. both parties have agreed for the purpose of testing to offer the gas transmission capacities’ reads a note released on Wednesday, adding that Eustream will offer 50,000.00 MWh/d in both directions.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria made it clear that Nabucco gas pipeline project should be unfrozen. According to some rumours, Sofia could soon present the project before the European Commission.
The message came after a meeting of Bulgaria’s Rosen Plevneliev and Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev.
‘During the meeting, the sides noted that the strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria was developing successfully. The role of Azerbaijan in ensuring the energy security of Europe was noted’ reads the press release.
Nabucco West is a proposed pipeline that would have transported gas from Azerbaijan to Austria, through the Turkish-Bulgarian border, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Also on Wednesday, European authorities launched a consultation on the future of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The project includes many energy-rich countries, including Azerbaijan.
“We also need to understand better the different aspirations, values and interests of our partners. This is what the review is about if we are to have a robust political relationship between our neighbours and us,” High Representative Federica Mogherini commented in a note.