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reported. Gazprom has determined the itinerary of the second line of the Turkish Stream pipeline will span Bulgaria and Serbia starting from 2020, then go through Hungary and Slovakia starting from 2021 and the second half of 2022, respectively. However, so far this route has not been confirmed by the government. Despite the lack of official confirmation, all three countries have already started building pipelines to join Turkish Stream. Hungary is expected to launch the procedure to contract the gas capacity of the Turkish Stream pipeline in September, while Bulgaria has already started working on the project. However, Serbia seems to be at the most advanced stage of works and hopes to have the pipeline operational by mid-December.
Azerbaijan may be able to do without a $750mn loan from the World Bank for the $40bn Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project aimed at carrying gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, the country’s finance minister said on August 1. SGC and the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency agreed the loan in June last year. It was guaranteed by Azerbaijan’s government. “Azerbaijan no longer needs a loan of $750 million, although negotiations with international financial institutions have already been held and an agreement has been reached on the allocation of these funds,” Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov said, as quoted by Reuters. “This became possible as a result of cost optimisation in the Southern Gas Corridor project and free cash flow after the launch of the TANAP project,” he added. The SGC is made up of three interconnected pipelines—the South Caucasus Pipeline that runs from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, the TANAP pipeline that runs through Turkey and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that runs through Greece and Albania, and when completed, will run under the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy. It is to provide the first direct route for Azerbaijani gas to make it to the European market. The project aims to send 10bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz field to EU customers, with 6 bcm going to Turkey. The chain of pipelines may be expanded after they become fully operational in 2020.
9.1.2 Automotive sector news
59 TURKEY Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com