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Russian gas supplies via Turkish Stream come online on January 1
tUrKey
SEvERAL countries in the Western Balkans and Southeast Europe began receiving Russian gas via the Turkish Stream (aka TurkStream) pipe- line, which came online on January 1.
Bulgaria’s state gas company Bulgargaz struck a deal with Russia’s Gazprom, which switched part of its deliveries of gas directly from the Turk- Stream pipeline rather than via transit through Romania starting January 1 that will save the company $45mn a year in transit fees.
The Russian and Bulgarian gas majors signed an additional agreement on December 30, under which Bulgaria is to switch from receiving gas from the Negru voda point in Romania to its own compressor station in Strandzha where the fuel will be coming from Turkey.
“The financial gains from changing the receiving point are estimated to be approxi- mately BGN81mn ($45mn). Bulgargaz and cus- tomers in Bulgaria save by no longer having to pay for access to and transit through the territory of Romania worth an approximate BGN76mn,” the statement read.
North Macedonia and Greece also began receiving Russian gas through S trillionadzha-2 new checkpoint in Bulgaria, Bulgartransgaz EAD executive director vladimir Malinov said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio as cited by Tass.
“Gas from Russia is successfully supplied through a new entry point (gas compressor station) of S trillionadzha-2 via Turkey. The
advantages of this project are security and eco- nomic viability. Both North Macedonia and Greece are receiving gas through Strandzha-2,” Malinov said.
Bulgartransgaz and Russia’s Gazprom Export company finalised talks in the last days of 2019 and since January 1, Bulgaria has been receiv- ing Russian gas via Turkey instead of Ukraine. Bulgaria will get 2.9bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually though the new gas compressor station of S trillionadzha-2. The country’s gas infrastruc- ture facilities were ready to pump that amount of gas.
Bulgartransgaz has promised a lower gas price in the next three months and said it was in talks with Gazprom to negotiate better prices for Bulgaria. Sofia has also voiced readiness to tran- sit Russian gas westward to Greece and North Macedonia.
TurkStream is a projected twin pipeline to run from Russia through the Black Sea to Tur- key, at which point a branch pipe will continue to southern and Southeast Europe.
Russia has been supplying gas to Bulgaria since 1974 and is currently the only exporter of natural gas in the Bulgarian market. Last year, Bulgaria finished building a pipe segment to link Turkish Stream to the so-called Balkan Stream pipeline network of Bulgaria and Serbia. Gaz- prom considers Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary potential markets. The capacity of each line is 15.75bcm of gas per year.™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 01 08•January•2019