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Energy Minister: Serbia hopes to start receiving gas from Turkish Stream in 2020
Belgrade, June 6 - Neftegaz.RU. Serbia hopes to start receiving natural gas from a string of the TurkStream pipeline through Bulgaria in 2020, energy minister Aleksandar Antic has said.
"Serbia will complete the construction of its part of the pipeline as planned, by December 18, and this will become the first large infrastructure project in Serbia that will be completed on time, without any delay," Antic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug.
Gazprom plans to build a string of its TurkStream pipeline for transit of natural gas to Europe from Turkey via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The future pipeline section on the territory of Serbia, approximately 400 km in length, will link the country's natural gas transmission system to those of Bulgaria and Hungary.
Serbia has already received 40% to 50% of the 180,000 tonnes of steel pipes needed for the construction of the pipeline on its territory and deliveries continue at the Danube river ports of Novi Sad and Smederevo, Antic said last month.
In Serbia, the project is carried out by Novi Sad-based Gastrans, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiss-based South Stream Serbia, according to data from Serbia's commercial register. Gazprom owns a 51% stake in South Stream Serbia, while state-owned Srbijagas holds the remaining 49%, according to Gazprom data.