Moldova and Ukraine have joined the Vertical Gas Corridor, which connects Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Launched in 2016, the Vertical Corridor will now integrate the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline and allow natural gas to be transported from Greece to Moldova and underground storage facilities in Ukraine. This was announced by Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov.

The respective memorandum of understanding was signed by the Moldovan gas system operator Vestmoldtransgaz during the Ministerial Meeting on Energy Connectivity in Central and South-Eastern Europe (CESEC), attended by the minister.

The pipeline will be able to transport both piped gas from Azerbaijan and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Revythoussa and Alexandroupoli terminals. A first installment of LNG destined for Moldova will arrive at the new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Alexandroupoli, Greece, next week, representing a trial purchase by Energocom. Subsequently, it will be transported to Moldova.

The Vertical Corridor is not a traditional single pipeline project, but a system that connects existing national gas networks and other gas infrastructures to ensure gas transit and thus contribute to energy security.

During the CESEC meeting, which is being held today in Athens, the gas system operators of the member countries also signed a memorandum regarding the expansion of the capacity of the trans-Balkan gas pipeline and the reverse operation of all three pipelines, not just one, as at present.

Minister Parlicov noted that, while the trans-Balkan pipeline has a north-south capacity of 27 billion m3/year, currently only 5 billion m3/year are available on the Romanian-Bulgarian border and 4 billion cubic meters on the Romanian-Ukrainian border. The trans-Balkan gas pipeline has historically transported Russian gas to the Balkans via Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, but remained inactive after Russia directed gas exports to the Balkans on TurkStream 1 and 2 in 2020.