The memorandum sets that the two operators will “cooperate with a view of concluding interconnection agreements and jointly investigating technical solutions for physical reverse flow.”
Transgaz said the collaboration with Ukrtransgaz has only recently started and is currently ongoing, but did not provide details as to how soon Ukraine would be able to import gas from Romania.
Ukrtransgaz announced in May this year that it had started talks with Transgaz, as Ukraine is looking to buy 1-2 billion cubic meters per year from Romanian suppliers.
The two countries share two cross-border points, Isaccea and Mediesu Aurit, which according to Uktransgaz, already have the capability to deliver north-bound gas, on its side of the border. Upgrade work to either point would therefore only have to happen on the Romanian grid.
The massive Isaccea point is divided into three pipelines. The capacity on two these lines is booked entirely by Russia’s Gazprom so it can transit flows through Romania onward to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. The two contracts booked by Gazprom will expire in 2015 and 2023. The third contract was booked by Bulgargaz and will come to an end in 2016.
The expiry of the 2015 Gazprom contract will allow Transgaz to start reverse flows into Ukraine.
Ukraine is able to import from the three other EU countries to which its grid is interconnected. While east-bound flows from Poland and Hungary are currently dormant, Slovakia is exporting around 26 million cubic meters per day.