The Azerbaijan–Georgia–Romania Interconnector (AGRI) is a proposed project to transport Azerbaijani natural gas to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and further to Central Europe. Natural gas would be transported by the pipeline from

Sangachal Terminal The Sangachal Terminal is an industrial complex consisting of a natural gas processing plant and oil production plant, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea south of Baku, Azerbaijan. History Construction of the terminal began in 1996 with t ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

to the Kulevi Terminal at the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. In Kulevi, the

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

export terminal (

LNG plant Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

) would be built. Liquefied natural gas will be transported by

LNG tankers Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

to the

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

terminal in Romania. After regasification natural gas will be delivered through the existing gas grid to Romania and other European countries. Alternative to the transportation of liquefied natural gas is transportation of

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in ...

. Capacity of the interconnector is expected to be of natural gas per year, of which will be consumed in Romania. The project is expected to cost €4–6 billion. On 13 April 2010, the Minister of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan

Natig Aliyev Natiq Aghaami oglu Aliyev (; November 23, 1947 – June 9, 2017) was an Azerbaijani politician. He was president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic from 1993 to 2004, and Minister of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan Republic from ...

, Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business Environment of Romania

Adriean Videanu Adriean Marian Videanu (; born 1 June 1962) is a businessman and former mayor of Bucharest, Romania. He is also a vice president of the Democratic Liberal Party of Romania, which was led by Emil Boc and the Minister of Economy in the Boc Cabinet ...

and Georgian Energy Minister

Alexander Khetaguri Alexander Khetaguri ( ka, ალექსანდრე ხეთაგური) (born 5 August 1976) is a Georgian politician who served in the cabinet of Georgia as the country's Minister of Energy from 30 August 2007 to 13 August 2012 and Mi ...

signed a memorandum on implementation of the project and establishment of the project company headquartered in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. The project is developed by AGRI LNG Co formed by

Romgaz Societatea Națională de Gaze Naturale Romgaz SA Mediaș (SNGN Romgaz SA) or simply Romgaz is the largest natural gas producer in Romania and one of the largest producers in Eastern Europe. The company is the country's main supplier and responsib ...

State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic The State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (), largely known by its abbreviation SOCAR, is a fully state-owned national oil and gas company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and o ...

Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation The Georgian Oil & Gas Corporation (GOGC, ) is the enterprise established by LLC Oil and Gas Corporations, that owns the high-pressure gas pipeline system of Georgia, with the total length of 1940 km. GOGC is responsible for the gas supply netw ...

, and MVM. This also allows the possibility for Bulgaria to join the project. The project is seen as a competitor to the

Nabucco pipeline The Nabucco pipeline (also referred as Turkey–Austria gas pipeline) was a failed natural gas pipeline project from Erzurum, Turkey, to Baumgarten an der March, Austria to diversify natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe. The p ...

, White Stream,

South Stream South Stream (; ; ; ; ; ) is a canceled pipeline project to transport natural gas of the Russian Federation through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia further to Austria. It was never finished. The project was f ...

Trans Adriatic Pipeline The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP; ; ; ) is a natural gas pipeline operational since 2020, running from Greece through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy. It is the final section of the Southern Gas Corridor originating in Azerbaijan. , capaci ...

, and Interconnector Turkey–Greece–Italy projects. On 14 February 2011, energy ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary announced the latter's joining in on the project, each of the four with equal shares. The company they had created to pursue the project, AGRI LNG Project Company, sought bidders for conducting the 2-year feasibility study of the project, and awarded a contract to Penspen Ltd to do so on 28 June 2012. Penspen's results were presented in December 2014 and approved by the project company in January 2015; they included a forecasted cost of USD $5 Bn, a resulting capacity of 8 billion cubic meters per year, and would take 9 years to construct. The project has been in limbo since mid-2015, with industry sources suggesting it is for want of investors, and security of the supply at the Azerbaijani end. Around that time, the government of Serbia was also invited to join the project. On 8 March 2019, Georgian Oil and Gas, one of AGRI's shareholders, released an update on the project, saying "Currently, the shareholders of AGRI LNG Project Company are discussing the issues related to further development and implementation of AGRI project, supposedly after 2024-2026 years when realization of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz Phase 2 and other fields development projects are completed." On 10 March 2021, Azerbaijan's energy minister stated that the project was frozen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector Proposed liquefied natural gas plants Proposed pipelines in Europe Natural gas pipelines in Azerbaijan Proposed natural gas pipelines in Georgia (country) Energy infrastructure in Romania Natural gas pipelines in Romania Natural gas pipelines in Hungary Azerbaijan–Georgia (country) relations Azerbaijan–Romania relations Georgia (country)–Romania relations Black Sea energy

See also

References