Romania has completed the first phase of the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRHA) gas pipeline project on its territory, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Energy Dan Dragan.
The project, which connects Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Austria, will increase Romania’s natural gas export and import capacity to Hungary to 1.75 billion cubic meters per year and the export capacity to Bulgaria to 1.5 billion cubic meters per year. The first stage’s cost amounted to 479 million euros, out of which 179 million euros came from the EU grant, while the rest was financed by natural gas transmission system operator Transgaz.
Dragan said that the first phase of the BRHA project is completed and, once operational, it will strengthen Romania’s energy independence and ensure the diversification of gas sources.
The project’s second stage aims to connect the future offshore gas exploitation sites in Romania’s Black Sea section to BRHA pipeline, thus allowing the country to export part of the Black Sea production to Hungary and Austria.
In June 2018, Transgaz has started the construction of the first phase of BRHA gas pipeline. Initial completion date of the first phase of BRHA gas pipeline was December 2019.
