Ukraine, together with the countries of Southern Europe, has launched two new natural gas import routes within the framework of the “Vertical Corridor” initiative. These are Route 2 and Route 3, which are intended to expand the possibilities of supplying the resource to the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
As reported by the ExPro website, the implementation of the new routes was agreed upon by Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, and joint capacity booking products were approved by the national regulators of all the countries involved. The first auctions for these routes have already taken place. They offered monthly capacities for gas imports from Greece to Ukraine for January 2026.
Within the framework of the “Vertical Corridor” gas transmission system operators agreed to reduce tariffs by 25% from the standard monthly rate. The most significant discount – up to 46% – was provided by the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (ICGB) and the GTS Operator of Ukraine. Capacity booking is carried out through a single auction with a fixed price and is available exclusively for monthly products, with nominations only possible for access to the Ukrainian GTS.
As ExPro explains, Route 2 is focused on the supply of liquefied natural gas from the Alexandrupolis LNG terminal.
“Route 2 is designed to import LNG from the Alexandrupolis terminal to Ukraine. The route starts at the Amfitriti point (near the Alexandrupolis LNG terminal) of the DESFA operator in Greece, will pass through the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, and then through Romania and Moldova to Ukraine“, the website says.
Route 3 involves the transportation of Azerbaijani gas. It starts at the junction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) with the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and then follows a similar route to Ukraine.
