Eastring Pipeline
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Eastring Pipeline is a proposed gas pipeline in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Location
The Eastring Pipeline is a proposed gas pipeline in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Its route will be one of three potential options all of which start from either the Slovak compressor stations in Veľké Kapušany or Veľké Zlievce, Slovakia. Version 1 ends at the Bulgarian state border with Turkey, while Version 2 and 3 end at the Black Sea coast in Pasha Dere, Bulgaria.[1] The map below shows the route indicated on the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) 2020 Network Development Plan.[2]
Project Details
- Operator: Eustream, Bulgartransgaz, SNTGN Transgaz SA, FGSZ Ltd[3]
- Owner: Eustream, Bulgartransgaz, SNTGN Transgaz SA, FGSZ Ltd[3]
- Parent: SPP Infrastructure, Bulgartransgaz, Transgaz, MOL Group[3]
- Proposed capacity: 20 billion cubic metres a year[1]
- Proposed expanded capacity: 40 billion cubic metres a year[1]
- Proposed Lengths:[1]
- Option 1: 1,030 km
- Option 2: 1,208 km - indicated to be the preferred route[4]
- Option 3: 1,241 km
- Cost: €2.6 billion (US$3 billion)[5]
- Financing: €438,257 grant from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility[6]
- Status: Proposed
- Start Year: 2025[1]
Background
Eastring Pipeline is a proposed pipeline project for Central and South-eastern Europe. It appears to have been proposed no later than December 2017, when it was declared a Project of Common Interest.[7]
It is a bi-directional gas pipeline interconnector of an annual capacity between 20 to 40 billion cubic meters per year, between Slovakia and the external border of the EU on the territory of Bulgaria, e.g. Turkey or Black Sea coast. It will connect existing gas transmission infrastructure in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. And will function as a direct transmission route between West EU liquid hubs and the Balkan region/Turkey, an area with a potential to be a highly liquid region offering gas from various sources. The pipeline will transport natural gas from well-established as well as alternative sources. It will bring gas from new sources from Caspian/eastern Mediterranean/Middle East region. At the same time, it will provide South-eastern Europe with gas from European gas hubs.[1]
A feasibility study was conducted in September of 2018 indicating that if the project wins final approval, construction could start in 2022 with the pipeline becoming operational at the beginning of 2025. The pipeline would have an estimated initial capacity of about 15 billion to 20 billion cubic metres per year with a potential upgrade up to 40 bcm in the next phase which is expected to be finished by 2030.[8][1]
According to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG), an industry group, the cost of the pipeline would be €2.6 billion[5] (about US$3 billion). ENTSOG lists Eastring using the following codes: TRA-A-656 (Hungarian portion), TRA-A-655 (Romanian portion), TRA-A-628 (Slovakian portion), TRA-A-654 (Bulgarian portion).
The project's code on the EU's Project of Common Interest (PCI) 3rd list is 6.25.1.[3][9] Due to its PCI status, the project received a €438,257 grant from the Connecting Europe Facility in 2016 for a feasibility study which assessed nine routing options, out of which three final routes were selected and further assessed.[6]
ENTSOG revised its estimates in its 2020 TYNDP time tables "according to the data from the pre-feasibility study with lower level of details" pushing the estimates construction of all three sections back from 2021-2023 to 2023-2025. ENTSOG expects the project to be commissioned between 2025-2030.[10]
The project's official website shows little sign of being updated. As of the August 11, 2021, its latest News/Events update was dated September 2018.[11]
In 2021, EurActiv reported that the Eastring gas project is "indefinitely postponed."[12] Eastring was not included in the 5th PCI list published by the European Commission in November 2021.[13] As of January 2022, the project remained a priority investment for the Three Seas Initiative.[14] ENTSOG's 2022 TYNDP also includes the project in its current format, but notes that "because of the status of the Project maturity any binding commitments have not been concluded relating to this topic. It is in a process of the discussion with relevant stakeholders."[15]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Eastring Eastring, accessed August 2018
- ↑ European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (October 2020). "TYNDP 2020 - MAP – Transmission" (PDF). ENTSOG. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Petre KOSTOV (2018-05-28). "6.25.1-0010-SKHU-S-M-16 - Innovation and Networks Executive Agency - European Commission". Innovation and Networks Executive Agency - European Commission. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
- ↑ Eastring. "Capacity & Construction". Retrieved August 14, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 ENTSOG Ten Year Network Development Plan 2020, Annex A, Projects Tables accessed Jan. 11, 2020
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Feasibility Study for the Eastring project, European Commission, accessed Dec. 10, 2018
- ↑ "Eastring". www.eastring.eu. Retrieved 2023-02-12.
- ↑ Demand for Slovakia's Eastring gas pipeline could hit 12 bcm in first year -study Reuters, September 20, 2018
- ↑ "Pipe down: Gas companies' control over billions in EU subsidies". Global Witness. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ↑ European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas. "Current TYNDP : TYNDP 2020 - Annex A" (PDF). ENTSOG. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Eastring website, Eastring, accessed Aug. 11, 2021
- ↑ "Failed gas projects have cost EU €440 million, new research shows". www.euractiv.com. 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
- ↑ ANNEX to COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/... amending Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the Union list of projects of common interest, European Commission, Nov. 19, 2021
- ↑ Esstring, Three Seas Initiative Priority Project database, accessed Jan. 24, 2022
- ↑ "TYNDP | ENTSOG". www.entsog.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
