The Energy Community celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Established in the aftermath of the Balkans war and the accession of many central European countries to the EU, the institution faces similar challenges now, being instrumental in supporting Ukraine’s energy resilience in the face of Russian attacks and assisting contracting parties on their path towards EU energy market integration. In this interview, Energy Community director, Artur Lorkowski, tells ICIS journalist Aura Sabadus about the pending opening of the EU energy chapter for Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of their accession negotiations as well as the work done to engage observer countries such as Armenia and Norway.

Europe LNG reporter Clare Pennington asks US counterpart Emily Burleson how the USTR will target Chinese vessels and how it plans to build its own LNG carrier industry

Gas grid operators on the Trans-Balkan corridor have been working to enable traders to access natural gas via Greek LNG terminals or pipelines for shipments to Ukraine at a unified discounted tariff.

The bundled transmission capacity product launched in May could open opportunities for diversification and tightening security of supply.

Nevertheless, many traders say the format may not be compliant with EU network codes and insist they had limited information prior to the first auction held in May.

As the five TSOs are preparing a new round of auctions, the Greek regulator RAE has started a consultation and companies are expected to submit their views by 9 June 2025.

ICIS reporter Aura Sabadus has collected 15 questions from gas traders active regionally and invited Sotirios Bravos (DESFA), Nikola Delev, (Bulgartransgaz), Marius Lupean, (Transgaz), Liviu Duminica, (VMTG) and Andrii Prokofiev (GTSOU) to answer them in detail.