Natural gas will continue to have a role, Kadri Simson European Commissioner for Energy

Caspian Energy (CE): Ms. Simson, what are the European Commission’s plans for the ensuring of the gas energy security which is of concern to almost all the EU countries today? Will there be new plans or projects stimulated inside the EU – in Italy, Greece, Croatia, Romania?

Kadri Simson, European Commissio­ner for Energy: In the last decade, the EU has significantly diversified its gas supplies, both in terms of sources and routes. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is part of that diversification and has been shipping Caspian gas to the EU since December 2020 and we have already seen the positive effect on the Italian gas market. The EU has also considerably ramped up its capacity to receive and use LNG.

There are also several Projects of Common Interest currently underway that will make the EU’s gas system even more resilient and prepared for different scenarios in the future. Some of the key projects in Central and Southern Europe are the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector, domestic reinforcements of the Bulgarian transmission system, Bulgaria-Serbia Interconnector, Alexandroupolis LNG terminal and storage projects in Romania and Bulgaria. In 2021, the Croatian Krk terminal, financed by the EU, started operating.