Romania to host first TSOs meet on March 13-14

Islamabad: Transgaz of Romania has agreed to host the first joint meeting of regional Transmission System Operators (TSOs) in Bucharest on March 13-14 to discuss the way forward with the recently initiated New Europe Transmission System (Nets) project by NGT Natural Gas Transmission Company, based in Siófok, Hungary.

In December 2007, MOL Plc had announced its support for the initiative of its subsidiary, NGT Natural Gas Transmission Co Ltd to establish a new joint transmission company to operate an integrated gas pipeline network in central and south-east Europe. The project has been termed as the New Europe Transmission System (Nets).

Prior to December 5, 2007 announcement, gas transmission companies in a number of countries in the region--including Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia--were invited to participate in discussions regarding the proposed new business entity. The initiative remains open to other market players in the region as well, while currently the original participants are considered as founding-members of the project to decide on any future strategic and operational issues.

These discussions will now be taken forward with a further meeting of previously involved TSOs and it will be taking place on March 13-14, 2008 in Bucharest, Romania. The host for the meeting will be the Romanian TSO Transgaz. Participants will discuss strategic, regulatory, financial and project management issues in workshops and roundtables. The event's objective is to set a long-term direction with short-term actions to be agreed by all participants of the project.