Paweł Stanczak, Advisor at the GTSOU’s Representation in the EU, took part in the discussion panel “A Regional Project: the Status of the Vertical Corridor. The Special Position of Central and South Eastern Europe in the New Supply Landscape” held within the framework of the Budapest LNG Summit.

As Paweł Stanczak noted, last year GTSOU and its European partners focused on the development of the Trans-Balkan Corridor, particularly on its use in the reverse mode, which would help create a strategically important link connecting the Greek LNG terminals, Ukrainian underground storage facilities and customers in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2023, 6 TWh (550 mcm) of gas was transported to Ukraine via the route in the reverse mode. Accession to the Vertical Corridor Initiative on January 19, 2024 became the culmination of the GTSOU’s efforts at this stage.

“GTSOU is ready to provide capacities for transportation of gas to the countries that still depend on its delivery from a single direction, particularly to Austria and Slovakia. Another important advantage of the Ukrainian route is access to UGS that provide very attractive and flexible services to potential users. These factors will change the regional market, which will lead to the diversification of supplies, greater market stability, enhance Europe’s energy security and speed up the country’s integration into the European energy sector,” Paweł Stanczak, Advisor at the GTSOU’s Representation in the EU,, noted.

The discussion was attended by Ion Sterian, Director General of Transgaz (Romania), Konstantinos Sifnaios, Vice President and Managing Director at Gastrade S.A. (Greece), Teodora Georgieva, Executive Director and Board Member at ICGB AD, Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, Kiril Ravnachki, Member of the Board at Bulgartransgaz (Bulgaria), Rastislav Nukovic, CEO of Eustream (Slovakia), Szabolcs Ferenc, CEO of FGSZ Hungarian Gas TSO (Hungary) and Sotirios Bravos, Chief Commercial Officer at Desfa (Greece).