The extension of TurkStream gas pipeline will be completed by the end of the year, thus enabling another gas supply route for Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and partially Hungary, said General Director of Serbian gas company Srbijagas Dusan Bajatovic reassuring that there will be no issues regarding gas deliveries to Serbia during the winter season.
Bajatovic states that, at this time, Serbia still receives gas from only one direction via Ukraine, and Gazprom says that with the interference that can be caused by commercial disputes, our transit through gas pipelines in Ukraine could also be disrupted if Ukraine cannot properly maintain its gas pipelines due to lack of financial resources. He explained that in order to have a secure and regular gas supply, Serbia is also developing an alternative scenario from the direction of Baumgarten, the largest gas storage facility in Europe.
Until the beginning of transit through Bulgaria, four gas measuring and compressor stations will be set up in Serbia. These are stations for receiving gas from the direction of Bulgaria, whose minimum consumption is 8.4 million cubic meters of gas per day, as well as three more stations for separation from the gas transport system, whose project consumption is from two to 4.6 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Serbia has completed the laying of the pipes for its section of the TurkStream gas pipeline extension in December last year. The construction of Serbian section, connecting Bulgarian and Hungarian borders, has officially started in May2019. With an envisaged capacity of almost 14 billion cubic meters of gas per year, 403 kilometers long Serbian section should be put into operation as early as 2020, and reach its full capacity during 2022. The operator of the pipeline in Serbia is local company Gastrans, a joint venture between Russian Gazprom and state-owned gas company Srbijagas.
