“This is a political-economic issue. It is in our common interest to distance ourselves from gas supplies from Russia. It is an American interest to enter the European LNG market. For Americans to enter the LNG market requires significant investment in ports in Greece, from the south of this corridor. And the question is whether there are enough buyers in the region. I’m talking about all countries, starting with Moldova, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. All the countries in this zone, the requirement for purchase is the following: you need large enough volumes to justify this investment.
The Romanian president’s doubts are justified. Ukraine, which is the terminus of the Vertical Gas Corridor that transports US LNG from Greece through Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova, has not purchased a single molecule along this route for the second month in a row – it is expensive.
In this regard, Nikushor Dan hopes to discuss the issue at the European Policy Community meeting in Yerevan.
He defined Bucharest’s role in this scheme as follows: “We want an American presence in Romania and we want this economic configuration to be favorable to Romania” and for Romania to make money from the transit of American gas.
The Vertical Gas Corridor project is a gas pipeline system that connects countries’ national grids and other gas infrastructure to provide gas transit and improve energy security. Initially, gas transportation system operators from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary participated. In January 2024, they were joined by network operators from Moldova, Ukraine and Slovakia.
In 2026, the corridor was “broken up” into three branches. However, according to the Romanian president, all this is not enough for the project to work at full capacity – 10 billion cubic meters per year.
