Energy ministers of "Vertical Gas Corridor" countries to meet in Washington

Energy ministers from countries involved in the “Vertical Gas Corridor” initiative will meet in Washington at the end of February to discuss the project aimed at supplying natural gas from Greece to Southeast Europe and Ukraine.

According to domestic media, the upcoming meeting was announced by Greece’s Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, and Joshua Volz, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy for Europe, Eurasia, Africa, and the Middle East, during their remarks at the Athens Energy Summit. The forum’s organisers later circulated their statements.

Volz highlighted that the initiative brings together countries that historically had little cooperation, calling this the main challenge of the project.

“Designing and laying pipelines through mountains is the easy part. The hardest part is convincing partners to make commitments. If the project is not commercially viable, it will not be viable for anyone,” he said.

He added that effective coordination is required along the entire route from Greece to Ukraine, stressing that all participating states must clearly see the economic benefits.

“This is not a charity project. The corridor is already functioning, but so far only a few drops are flowing through it. We want to move to a real flow of gas,” Volz noted.

He also said a ministerial-level meeting in Washington at the end of February would focus on addressing current challenges, while consultations to advance the project would continue intensively and on a regular basis through the end of the year.

The Vertical Gas Corridor project involves Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine and aims to establish a gas supply route from terminals in the Eastern Mediterranean to Moldova and Ukraine.

Once fully operational, the system is expected to enable gas deliveries from Greece to underground storage facilities in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, and Ukraine.

The resource base for supplies will consist of Azerbaijani gas delivered to Greece via the Southern Gas Corridor, as well as liquefied natural gas brought to Greek terminals from around the world.

Key elements of the Vertical Gas Corridor will include the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, the upgraded regasification facility on the island of Revithoussa, and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

By Tamilla Hasanova