Romania preparing to build 308-km Black Sea natural gas connector pipeline

March 20 -- Romanian national gas transmission company Transgaz SA, OMV Petrom SA, and SNGN Romgaz SA have signed contracts booking capacity on a pipeline connecting the national gas transmission system with Black Sea production. The agreements formalize terms for connecting Black Sea gas from landfall to the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) corridor and will allow development of a 308-km pipeline to do so.

The Tuzla-Podisor pipeline will be built in two sections and connected to the existing T1 international gas transmission pipeline. Tuzla-Posidor Section I will carry 12 billion cu m/year (bcmy) of gas 32 km to from Black Sea landfall to Amzacea. Section II will complete delivery to Posidor (276 km) at 9 bcmy.

The project is included in Transgaz’s 10-year development plan and on the European Union’s (EU) list of projects of common interest, with an application for grants under the EU’s modernization fund under review. Construction will start after OMV Petrom and Romgaz, partners in the Neptun Deep offshore block, take final investment decision, expected mid-2023. The two companies have put up €44 million each to reserve the right to book capacity on the new pipeline.

Transgaz, which will operate, Tuzla-Posidor, will open a construction tender Mar. 27, 2023, lasting until Apr. 20-25, 2023. The pipeline is expected to cost €478 million ($510 million).

Neptun Deep covers 7,500 sq km in water depths of 100-1,700 m. More than $1.5 billion were invested 2008-16 in exploration and appraisal activities, according to OMV Petrom. Exploration included two 3D acquisition campaigns and two exploration drilling campaigns, with eight exploration and appraisal wells drilled.

In 2012, Domino-1, the first deepwater exploration well in Romania, confirmed the existence of a natural gas reservoir. Neptun Deep contains an estimated 1.5-3.0 tcf of gas.