Serbia in talks to join construction of TurkStream gas pipeline section in Bulgaria

Belgrade, January 27 - Neftegaz.RU. According to SeeNews, Serbia is in talks to join the construction of Gazprom's TurkStream gas transmission pipeline on Bulgarian territory with machines and welders, in order to accelerate the works, the head of state-owned monopoly Srbijagas, Dusan Bajatovic, said.

Serbia wants to see the completion of the first part of 308 km of the pipeline in Bulgaria as soon as possible, Bajatovic said. The country has completed the laying of pipes along the entire 403 km-long route of the pipeline on its territory and expects to import between 12.5 and 13.88 billion cu m of natural gas annually through TurkStream via Bulgaria, Bajatovic said.

Hungary is already booking import capacity, while Bulgaria and Serbia have already sold 100% of their respective capacities for a period of 20 years, he added.

In December, Bajatovic said that the complete pipeline in Bulgaria and what the Hungarians still have to do should be ready by the end of 2020. "If the Bulgarians step up work, then it will be completed within the deadlines," Bajatovic said back then.

In Bulgaria, a consortium of Saudi-based Arkad Engineering and Construction Company and its Italy-based joint venture company Arkad ABB started the construction of the country's section of TurkStream in October under a 1.1 billion euro contract.

The offshore section of the TurkStream pipeline stretching 930 km across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey consists of two parallel strings with an annual throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres each. One string is intended for consumers in Turkey, while the second will carry gas to customers in Europe through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.