London — Serbia's onshore extension of the TurkStream gas pipeline had been laid, the country's energy minister Aleksandar Antic said Friday, with work to continue over 2020 to build the link's supporting infrastructure.
Not registered?
Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience.
Register NowAntic -- speaking following a meeting of the council of the Southern Gas Corridor in Baku -- said the new route from Azerbaijan and the TurkStream system both brought new gas supply diversification for Serbia.
"I am convinced that these projects, which we are rapidly implementing with partners, clearly show our strategic commitment to diversifying our gas supply, and we want security and stability in supply, not only for Serbia, but for the entire region," Antic said, according to a statement posted to the ministry website.
Serbia has been busy laying its 403 km section of the TurkStream onshore expansion to bring gas carried by the TurkStream pipeline from Serbia's border with Bulgaria to its border with Hungary.
Work began in May and Antic said Friday the pipeline had now been laid.
"This project is of strategic importance for Serbia and in 2020 we will build supporting infrastructure, including compressor stations," he said.
"This represents a new supply route, primarily Russian gas, thus increasing Serbia's energy security," he added.
December 2020 start
The 31.5 Bcm/year TurkStream gas pipeline began commercial flows on January 1 and has largely replaced the volumes that used to come to Southeast Europe in the Trans-Balkan line via Ukraine.
Serbia currently receives Russian gas entering the country from Hungary via Ukraine, but from December 2020 will be able to import Russian gas via TurkStream, according to Russian gas giant Gazprom.
In an investor presentation last month, Gazprom said supplies to Serbia and Hungary via TurkStream were expected by December this year.
The system is expected to reach its full capacity of 31.5 Bcm/year by October 2022, Gazprom said.
Bulgaria is also busy building its section of the TurkStream onshore expansion.
Work started in September following a delay caused by an appeal against the contract award, with a small extension completed allowing for TurkStream flows to move into Bulgaria and on to Greece and North Macedonia.
The bulk of the work will see a 474 km segment built to the border with Serbia.
Separate interconnector
Work is also under preparation to build a separate gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria further to the south of where the Bulgarian TurkStream extension enters Serbia.
The Interconnector Bulgaria-Serbia (IBS) will allow for the flow of 1-1.8 Bcm of gas in the direction Bulgaria to Serbia and 0.15 Bcm/year in reverse.
The project forms part of the EU's Projects of Common Interest list and the European Commission is contributing notably to the Serbian side with a pre-accession grant of Eur49.6 million ($55.2 million).
Antic said Friday the interconnector was expected to be completed by the beginning of 2022 "at the latest."
The project will enable Azerbaijani gas to flow via TANAP and TAP into the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and then via the existing Bulgarian grid to Serbia.
"The IBS along with the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector connects Serbia to the Southern Gas Corridor and opens opportunities for future supply of gas from the Caspian Sea via TANAP and TAP pipelines, as well as LNG terminals in the region," Antic said.
Greece is developing a new LNG import terminal at Alexandroupolis in the north of the country to allow LNG to link in with other Southern Gas Corridor infrastructure.