"As of July 1st, we will put into operation the Vertical Corridor infrastructure, which will increase the capacity for natural gas transmission from Greece to Bulgaria, and by the end of the year, the one that increases transmission from Bulgaria to Romania," announced the Executive Director of Bulgartransgaz EAD, Vladimir Malinov during his participation in the Energy Transition Summit for the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Europe, which is taking place in Athens, Greece.
The conference, organized by one of the most prestigious daily business newspapers in the world - Financial Times and the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, is among the platforms that have become established in the region over the years for discussions of current energy issues. Malinov was among the participants in the panel “The Vertical Corridor – Strengthening the Energy Backbone of Southeast Europe”, together with Joshua Huck, the Deputy Chief of the US Mission in Greece, Maria-Rita Galli, Director of Aktor LNG and Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Energy Community.
During discussions, the participants emphasized the importance of the Vertical Gas Corridor in ensuring sufficient quantities of gas from secure sources at competitive prices for the region, taking into account the EU’s decision to suspend imports of Russian natural gas. “Since 2018, BulgartransgazEAD has been consistently modernizing and expanding its network, increasing its capacity and providing the possibility of bidirectional gas transmission along various routes. This guarantees market participants access to diverse sources and the opportunity to achieve optimal prices at any time.” He expressed hope that the current regular government in our country will provide political support for project realisation. Joshua Huck, on his part, underlined that the US support for implementation of the Vertical Corridor within the set deadlines will continue.
"Leading companies in the US LNG market and other significant producers recognize the high reliability of the infrastructure in the region," Malinov emphasized. "Thanks to the joint efforts of operators, energy regulators and the European Commission, we have agreed on the introduction of a long-term sustainable solution for optimization of tariffs. This will increase interest in our markets, further stimulate competition and provide an opportunity to achieve the best conditions for gas supplies, including LNG," he added. "We should achieve the so-called economies of scale - through cooperation between the countries along the Vertical Corridor to pool our nominations to LNG producers. The conclusion of long-term agreements will, on the one hand, allow for lower prices to be negotiated for a long-term period, and on the other - for transmission tariffs to be further optimized," Malinov concluded.
