AGRI Study Due in September

A feasibility study currently underway on the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) will be ready by September, Georgian Minister for Energy Alexander Khetaguri has said today.

Speaking to reporters in Azerbaijan, the minister said the project put Georgia at the forefront of energy in Europe, helping it to secure the supply of gas to Europe.

"This project will expand the number of countries receiving gas from Azerbaijan through the Georgian ports," he said. 

Besides current interested countries Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania, the minister said Hungary had also recently expressed an interest in participating in the massive liquefied natural gas pipeline.

"Hungary, which also wants to receive liquefied gas from Azerbaijan intends to join the agreement, which involves Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania," the Trend news agency reports him as saying. 

Currently, the AGRI project has four shareholders, Romgaz, SOCAR, MVM and Georgia Oil and Gas Corporation, each holding a 25 per cent stake in the project.

The project is already intended to link to Hungary through the Romanian gas transport system and further transported through the Arad–Szeghed pipeline, which connects Romania and Hungary, to be transported to the rest of Europe.