Ukraine and Bulgaria to develop the Vertical Gas Corridor to strengthen the region's energy security

Ukraine and the Republic of Bulgaria have agreed to develop the Vertical Gas Corridor, which will significantly expand natural gas transportation volumes and strengthen energy security in the Southeast European region. The agreement was reached by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov.

The Vertical Gas Corridor project provides access to diversified sources of natural gas supply for countries in the region. As noted by First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal, once the project is completed, the route’s capacity could reach approximately 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. This also opens up additional opportunities for expanding cooperation in the field of gas supply and storage, particularly through the use of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities.

Denys Shmyhal also emphasized that, in parallel, the Ministry of Energy continues to actively work on developing other promising routes for natural gas supplies to Ukraine. In particular, the Polish route provides access to LNG terminals in Poland, Lithuania, and Germany, as well as to Norwegian production resources via the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline.

“An agreement has been reached with Polish partners to increase gas import capacity to 6.7 billion cubic meters per year by the end of April this year. Negotiations are ongoing regarding the further expansion of this route,” noted Denys Shmyhal.

He noted that the implementation of these initiatives would ensure Ukraine’s access to natural gas from various sources, contribute to strengthening the energy security of the country and the region, and deepen Ukraine’s integration into the European energy market and the European Union.