The Vertical Corridor enters a new level of maturity

2026. 07. 15.

The Natural Gas Transmission System Operators (TSOs) participating in the Vertical Corridor Initiative held a working meeting on Friday, July 10, in Athens, with the participation, for the first time, of the Operators of Serbia and North Macedonia, marking an important milestone in the preparation of the expansion of the initiative to the Western Balkans.

The meeting was attended by DESFA and Gastrade (Greece), ICGB (Greece & Bulgaria) (Greece), Bulgartransgaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz (Romania), Vestmoldtransgaz (Moldova), FGSZ (Hungary), EUSTREAM (Slovakia) and GTSOU (Ukraine). A notable development was the inclusion of NOMAGAS (North Macedonia) and Transportgas Srbija (Serbia), which participated for the first time in the Initiative's discussions alongside the existing members, reflecting the envisaged expansion of the Vertical Corridor to the Western Balkans. The companies were represented by their CEOs and senior executives.

The discussions focused on the expansion of the Vertical Corridor, including the available capacity at the interconnection points, the infrastructure projects under development and their implementation timelines. As a next step, the participants agreed to establish a joint technical and commercial working group to further assess the interconnection capacity framework of the systems across the region, the market outlook longer term and finally work on the improvement of the commercial attractiveness of the Corridor, including its tariff structure and infrastructure needs.

They additionally agreed to prepare the extension of the Memorandum of Understanding, to include the new members, with a view to advancing the project onto the next phase.

The meeting marked the transition of the Vertical Corridor to a new level of maturity, expanding its geographical and strategic footprint beyond its original design. The initiative is now evolving into an integrated regional platform for energy cooperation, aiming to enhance security of supply, diversification of gas sources and routes, resilience of energy infrastructure and development of gas markets in South-East and Central Europe, including the Western Balkans.

The meeting was briefly attended by the Minister of Environment and Energy of Greece, Mr. Stavros Papastavrou and the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ms. Iva Petrova.

Following their participation at the Economist Roundtable the two ministers  conveyed their political support for applying to the European Commission with concrete priority investments, aimed at further improving the energy resilience of the region.

The participating Operators reaffirmed their commitment to maintain close coordination at technical and operational level in order to proceed with the expansion of the Vertical Corridor in a timely manner and further strengthen its role as a reliable and competitive energy highway for South-East and Central Europe and the Western Balkans.