On October 29-th in Budapest, during the meeting of the High Level Group of Central and South Eastern Europe, the gas transmission system (GTS) operators, who are members of the CESEC (Central and South Eastern Europe Energy Connectivity) initiative, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This agreement outlines a common approach and action plan to harmonize requirements for natural gas quality at interconnection points in the region. In addition to LLC “Gas TSO of Ukraine”, the signatories included Bulgartransgaz (GTS operator of Bulgaria), DESFA (GTS operator of Greece), FGSZ (Hungary), ICGB (Greece-Bulgaria interconnector operator), Nomagas (GTS operator of North Macedonia), PLINACRO (GTS operator of Croatia), PLINOVODI (GTS operator of Slovenia), Transgaz (GTS operator of Romania) and Vestmoldtransgaz (GTS operator of the Republic of Moldova).
As noted in the Memorandum, Central and Southeastern Europe historically depended on the import of russian natural gas, the physicochemical properties of which have specified the requirements for natural gas quality along the respective routes both at the national level and at the interconnection points. Compatibility and market integration of gas systems in the CESEC zone require further efforts in the context of supply diversification and gradual abandonment of russian gas, as foreseen in the RePower EU plan.
“In order to make the region more open to diversification of supplies, we must not only build new gas transmission routes, but also ensure the compatibility of requirements for natural gas quality at all interconnection points,” – emphasized Dmytro Lyppa, General Director of Gas TSO of Ukraine.
The diversification of supply and the development of cross-border trade require the GTS operators to adapt requirements, taking into account the varying natural gas quality from different sources.
Since 2022, the GTS operators participating in the CESEC initiative, along with the European Commission, have been conducting a series of meetings, seminars and other discussions on unifying the natural gas quality in Central and South-Eastern European countries. The goal is to eliminate artificial barriers to natural gas transportation. The results of this fruitful cooperation between the concerned parties mentioned above became the basis for signing the Memorandum aimed at coordinating actions purposed to find a generally acceptable regional solution for harmonizing natural gas quality requirements within agreed terms.