Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic said that that the project for the construction of TurkStream gas pipeline extension through Serbia will have several exit points from the country, and the construction of the Belgrade-Banja Luka gas pipeline route is planned as a continuation of this project.
Minister Antic said in an interview that the next step is the Belgrade-Banja Luka project, which would entail gas supply in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He explained that, when it comes to the development of TurkStream extension, there were several priority grades. The first priority is to increase the capacity of the underground gas storage Banatski Dvor, from 450 million cubic meters to 750 million cubic meters, a project which should start in June. The Itebej gas storage, with a capacity of around one billion cubic meters, is planned as well, and then the Tilva gas storage near Pancevo.
Earlier this week, Member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik said that talks with Russian partners on the construction of the leg of TurkStream gas pipeline extension towards the Republic of Srpska (RS) should start in June. He expects that the construction the gas pipeline in RS would start by the end of summer, which means that negotiations should start as soon as possible, namely in early June. Serbian media reported earlier that the project for Serbian section of TurkStream pipeline extension envisages an additional leg stretching towards the RS with annual capacity of one billion cubic meters of gas.
Last week, the construction of 403 kilometers long Serbian section of TurkStream gas pipeline extension, connecting Bulgarian and Hungarian borders, has officially started and is expected to be completed in December. With an envisaged capacity of almost 14 billion cubic meters of gas per year, 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.
