Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic met with his Turkish colleague Fatih Donmez after the launch of the second phase of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) gas pipeline project.
The aim of TANAP project is to deliver the natural gas produced at the two Shah Deniz gas fields in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea area to Turkey and Europe. Along with the South Caucasus Pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipeline, the project makes up the Southern Gas Corridor, with a total capacity of 16 billion cubic meters a year.
Minister Antic said that this is very important for the entire region, as it enables a diversification of gas supply. New gas sources will make the entire region more secure and stable in terms of energy. It also provides additional gas supply sources through all those pipelines and LNG terminals of the region, especially the LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli. He added that this is a good opportunity for Serbia as well, considering that two projects at the top of European and regional priorities were being developed. These are the Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection and the Bulgaria-Serbia gas interconnection. Those two interconnections link us to the Southern Gas Corridor and make it possible for Serbia, as well as BiH in the future, to expect gas from that direction. Minister Antic said that those two gas interconnections will be completed by 2022, so Southern Gas Corridor could be very competitive in our market already in 2023-2025, when the production of gas in Azerbaijan is expected to increase.
On 17 May, the construction of 403 kilometers long Serbian section of TurkStream gas pipeline extension, connecting Bulgarian and Hungarian borders, has officially started. Permits for preparatory works on the first three sections of the pipeline through Serbia, totaling 300 kilometers, has already been issued. The first section stretches from Bulgarian border to the city of Cuprija, the second one from Cuprija to the Danube and the third one from the Danube to the city of Zrenjanin. Construction permits for sections 2 and 3 have been issued as well, while the one for section 1 will be issued in the following days. The expropriation procedures for the entire route have been completed. With an envisaged capacity of almost 14 billion cubic meters of gas per year, 403 kilometers long 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.
