Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania sign agreement to establish a joint venture on the project of a new way of transporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe

Georgia, Azerbaijan and Romania have signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture (JV) on the project of a new way of transporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe yesterday.

Tbilisi hosted a ministerial on the implementation of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Romanian project on the transportation of Azerbaijani liquefied natural gas to Europe May 12. The ministerial will be attended by Azerbaijani energy minister Natig Aliyev, his Georgian counterpart Alexander Khetaguri and Romanian Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Adrean Videanu.

The parties agreed that the new JV deal will specific questions on the project.

“This facility will deal with involving funding for the project and the creation of feasibility studies,” Khetaguri said. The new JV will be established within 30 days.

The project involves the delivery of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Georgia to the Black Sea coast, where will build a factory for processing natural gas into liquefied natural gas. Then it will be delivered to via the tankers Romania, where also will be built re-gasification plant.

“This is a very important project and it will further diversify the Azerbaijani gas to Europe. We believe the diversification of the oil and gas supply routes to Europe is one of the most urgent problems” Aliyev said.

Khetaguri said all the transit routes that pass through its territory are important for Georgia “These are the economic benefits and increase of our energy security,” he said.

Vidianu said the Azerbaijani gas will ensure the Europe with energy in certain measures.

“Romania intends to play an active role in this process and this project is part of this policy,” he added.

Romania, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of transportation of liquefied gas in Bucharest April 13.