New alternative gas route to Hungary

Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán and the presidents of three other countries concerned have signed an agreement on the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romanian Interconnector (AGRI) project which involves the transporting of Azeri natural gas through Georgia and Romania to Central Europe.

At a summit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on Tuesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hosted a meeting with Romanian President Traian Basescu, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Noting that Azerbaijan favors multi-directional policy in energy exports, Aliyev said the country has established a good infrastructure and laid new pipelines for the transportation of oil and gas in different directions. He added that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to regional and international cooperation in the energy sector.

The heads of states and governments signed the Baku Declaration on the AGRI project in which two gas terminals will be constructed: one at the Georgian port of Kulevi and the other at the Romanian port of Constanta, with tankers transporting the liquefied natural gas. From Constanta, a pipeline will transport the Azeri gas to Hungary and other countries in Central Europe. The volume of gas transported will be lower than the capacity of the planned Nabucco and South Stream projects, still, the AGRI route will help increase independence of Eastern Europe from Russian gas supply. According to plans, Azeri gas may be on its way to Hungary through this route as early as in 2012.