Bulgaria declares its readiness to receive gas from TurkStream
In the event that Russia halts gas supplies through Ukraine, Bulgaria is ready to accept all of the gas intended for Europe through a second TurkStream pipeline, stated by the country's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
“If Russia stops pumping 3 billion cubic meters through Ukraine, then we will buy this amount through TurkStream.”
The Bulgarian Prime Minister noted that a few weeks ago he signed an agreement for the supply of 15.7 billion cubic meters of gas. “And tomorrow we will sign a similar agreement with Serbia. We will receive 10 billion cubic meters from Bulgaria to Serbia,” he said.
Earlier it was reported that the existing gas pipeline from Bulgaria to Turkey could be switched to reverse flow. The TurkStream project involves the construction of a gas pipeline that must cross the Black Sea and reach the European coast of Turkey 100 kilometers west of Istanbul. The pipeline will continue on land and will supply gas from Turkey to Greece, Bulgaria and other European countries. According to Miller, the first pipeline, through which gas will be supplied to Turkey, will be completed by March 2018, and the second, which will direct Russian energy resources to the countries of southern and southeastern Europe, should be operational sometime 2019.
The contract that Russia concluded for supplying gas through Ukraine is valid until 2019, but Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller noted that Moscow may keep gas flowing through Ukraine in 2020. However, starting in 2020, the volume of Russian gas passing through Ukraine may drop to 15 billion cubic meters per year, compared with 23.2 billion cubic meters which passed through the country in the first quarter of 2017.