Serbian company Srbijagas and Hungarian FGSZ connected sections of the TurkStream pipeline on Sunday, connecting the two countries’ gas networks. The new section will allow Russia to transfer its gas to Hungary across the Black Sea, bypassing the territory of Ukraine.
Dusan Bajatovic, the chief executive of Serbian- and Russian-owned Gastrans, said the interconnector would deliver gas arriving in Turkey to Central Europe via Bulgaria and Serbia.
Szabolcs Ferencz, who heads FGSZ, told Hungarian-state news wire MTI that the interconnector project would be completed by October 1.
Around 15 kilometers of pipeline is being constructed in Hungary for the interconnector, at a cost of about HUF 20 billion ($67.5 million), Ferencz said. Once completed the interconnector will have a capacity of 6 billion cubic meters per year.
Expansion of the gas connector to a capacity of 8.5 billion cubic meters per year was postponed from October 2022 to October 2023, as Hungarian gas workers and officials feared US sanctions.
The Serbian Stream project marks yet another move by Russia to reduce the amount of gas transported through Ukraine. Both the Balkan and Turkish stream projects have drastically reduced the volume of gas. In 2020, almost all gas supply to Bulgaria and Greece was supplied through the new Turkish Stream pipeline, avoiding the existing “Soyuz” and “Brotherhood” pipelines that intersect Ukraine.
According to estimates, Ukraine will lose about $450 million per year over the launch of the TurkStream gas pipeline.
Russia and Turkey formally launched the TurkStream project in January 2020. It is aimed to transport Russian gas to Balkan states – Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina – via Turkey.
The Turkstream pipeline is a replacement for the scrapped South Stream project which was cancelled by the Russian government in 2014 after the project was found to be in non-compliance with the European Union’s Third Energy Package.
Despite the curtailment of Russia’s South Stream, subsequent extensions to Turkish-backed pipelines have allowed for Russian gas to circumvent Ukraine, leading to energy security fears in Ukraine and Europe.
The US Department of State has not ruled out the possiblity of imposing further sanctions on the project, which it considers to be in violation of the terms laid out by the Congress’ Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act. (PEESA)
