Ukraine and Hungarian TSOs sign Bi-directional Interconnection Agreement

The Ukrainian and Hungarian gas transmission system operators have signed an signed an interconnection agreement governing both directions of natural gas flows.

The agreement between Ukrtransgaz and its Hungarian counterpart FGSZ, covers all pipelines crossing the border between the countries and is fully consistent with European Union’s 3rd Energy Package.

Interconnector capacity in the direction of Hungary stands at 26 billion cubic meters per year.  Interconnector capacity in the direction of Ukraine equals 6.1 billion cubic meters per year.

A statement from Naftogaz of Ukraine said that the agreement between Ukrtransgaz and its Hungarian counterpart FGSZ, is the first agreement of this kind between Ukranian TSO and a neighboring European TSO and will serve as a model for other agreements on interconnections between Ukrtransgaz and other EU operators, including Slovak, Polish and Romanian TSOs.

Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev commented: "Full cooperation with European TSOs is an important condition for Ukraine to be able to import sufficient gas volumes from Europe. The huge potential value to European companies from utilizing the spare capacity of Ukraine’s gas transportation system and underground storages also depends on full cooperation between Ukrainian TSO and its EU counterparts."