Gas supplies to all the Western Balkans will be provided through the Bulgarian-Serbian gas pipeline,” Presidents of Serbia and Bulgaria Aleksander Vucic and Rumen Radev said in Kostinbrod, Bulgaria, where construction work on the interconnector between the countries was opened at a solemn ceremony.
According to Serbian public television, the presidents of the two countries said the pipeline is an important European project that will also improve the energy supply of the entire region, making Serbia an important transit country for non-Russian gas.
Aleksandar Vučić said the gas interconnector would help Serbia significantly diversify its natural gas resources and provide opportunities to import more liquefied natural gas (LNG).
So far, Bulgaria and Serbia are connected by the continuation of the Turkish Stream, the Balkan Stream, which runs from the border between Bulgaria and Turkey to the Serbian-Hungarian border.
As EADaily reported, the total length of the interconnector with a capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters per year will be 170 kilometers and it is planned to be launched by October this year. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called the same dates at the opening of a gas pipeline between Greece and Bulgaria.
It is planned that the interconnector will supply Azerbaijani gas from the Southern Gas Corridor and regasified LNG from Greek terminals. The cost of construction of the 62-kilometer Bulgarian section is estimated at 76 million euros, 27 million of which are allocated by the European Union.
Also, they are talking about plans to receive Azerbaijani gas in Budapest, where a parallel gas pipeline leads – a continuation of the Turkish Stream. Azerbaijan has promised to double gas supplies to Europe, but by 2027. While the country does not have enough capacity and part of the gas in winter, in order not to reduce exports, is bought from Gazprom.
Serbia consumes a little over 3 billion cubic meters annually. 2 billion of them the country receives from Russia. In January, the director of Serbian gas, Dusan Bajatović, said on air on the RTS channel that Serbia receives fuel at $396 per thousand cubic meters. The price is tied to oil quotes and is 1.6 times lower than the current prices on the EU exchanges.
“We pay 800 million euros (per year), a fantastic price! And for an additional 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas, we would have paid 4.8 billion euros if we bought at current prices. Fortunately, we managed to buy before this difficult time, otherwise we would have been bankrupt, ”Alexander Vucic said in August.
