Bulgaria turns Turkish Stream to Greece
Sofia responded to criticism from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who accused the Bulgarians of sabotaging the construction of their section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
The head of Bulgartransgaz, Vladimir Malinov, said that Bulgaria is ready to begin transit gas supplies to Greece and Macedonia from the beginning of 2020, using the country’s existing gas transportation system.
However, Moscow’s claims relate to another, more important for Russia, Turkish Stream route – the Balkan Stream branch. The strategic pipeline is expected in Serbia, which will complete its section by the end of the year. Hungary and Slovakia have already booked gas from Balkan Stream from 2022. The final point will be Austria.
The Bulgarians promise to complete the construction of the gas pipeline towards Serbia by the end of May 2020. But the deadlines have already been missed due to the leapfrog of contractors, which was arranged by Bulgtransgaz.
The Saudi company Arkad was chosen to lay the pipe to Serbia through Bulgaria back in April 2019, but then the Bulgarian side began negotiations with another contractor. As a result, the contract was signed only in mid-September. This led to a six-month delay in construction.
Bulgaria has a bad “credit history” in gas relations with Russia. In 2015, she forced Gazprom to abandon the construction of another gas pipeline, South Stream, allegedly under pressure from the European Union.
However, in fact, the United States is trying to undermine Gazprom’s position in Europe. They not only impose their projects for the supply of liquefied gas, but also lobby for an alternative to the Turkish Stream, the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field.
At the end of November, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov flew to Washington again. The day before, he said that he wants to get rid of dependence on Gazprom and receive gas, including from TANAP. The start of commercial supplies of Azerbaijani gas to Europe is expected in 2020.
Publications hostile to the interests of Gazprom appeared in the Bulgarian press. Thus, political scientist Ognyan Minchev said that there is no particular benefit from the Balkan Stream, since it will pay off only after 20 years. The Bulgarian expert does not give specific figures, although it is known that, having lost the South Stream, Bulgaria lost $400 million a year.
Recently, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova was ready to sue Gazprom Export if gas transit along the Trans-Balkan route from Ukraine to Turkey was stopped from January 2020, but only if the second line was not laid through Bulgaria.
Let us recall that during a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Sochi, Vladimir Putin threatened to change the route of the Balkan Stream in the event of further sabotage by Bulgaria. He also assured that Serbia, which has fulfilled all construction obligations, will definitely receive the necessary gas.
Today it became known that the US Congress included in the defense budget for 2020 the introduction of sanctions against the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream as a measure to “ensure the energy security of Europe.” Restrictive measures may affect courts that provide solutions beneficial to construction.
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