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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-04-22
CONTENTS
[01] Russian pipeline will not compete with IGB-VGC, Energy minister
says in Sofia
[01] Russian pipeline will not compete with IGB-VGC, Energy minister
says in Sofia
ANA - MPA -- The Russian pipeline carrying natural gas via Turkey and
Greece does not in any way compete with the Vertical Gas Corridor
(VGC) being planned by Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, Productive
Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis
assured his counterparts in Sofia, Bulgaria on Wednesday.
Speaking one day after his meeting in Athens with Gazprom CEO Alexei
Miller about the Russian pipeline project - which is to traverse Greece
and supply gas to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM),
Serbia, Hungary and the rest of central Europe - Lafazanis pointed out
that the two pipelines would cross and supply different countries on
their path. Lafazanis was in the Bulgarian capital for the first meeting
of the high-level group on the VGC, attended by his counterparts from
Bulgaria and Romania.
The minister presented a detailed report on the government's plans on
energy connections, noting that Greece was in talks for its potential
participation in the construction of the Russian pipeline "in accordance
with European law and the third energy package." The project is intended
to replace the existing Russian natgas route via Ukraine to central
Europe, which will cease operating in 2019.
He noted that the VGC linking the natgas systems of Greece, Bulgaria
and Romania was not only potential solution in the case of an energy
crisis but promoted the interlinking of the region with "Europe's energy
arteries, putting an end fo the isolation of our countries" and promoting
a convergence in gas prices.
Referring to the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), he said this would
provide southeast Europe's most efficient access to new sources of natural
gas, from various areas and not just the Caspian Sea. He also noted the
possibility of supplying the Balkans through the Liquified Natural Gas
station at Revythousa in Greece.
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