19:45,
YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The Bulgaria-Serbia gas link will be launched on schedule in October, said caretaker Minister of Energy Rosen Hristov during the inspection of the progress of the activities for the construction of the gas interconnection near Dobroslavtsi village. According to him, the project is progressing on schedule, even slightly ahead. "We are absolutely sure that the project will be completed on time on the Bulgarian side and within the budget."
Minister Hristov pointed out that the capacity of the gas link is 1.8 billion cubic metres per year. A large-scale analysis of the gas market in Southeastern and Central Europe is currently being carried out with eight European countries in order for other countries to diversify their gas supplies, as Bulgaria has done, and is now ready to build an additional compressor station on the interconnector to increase its capacity to 3.2 bcm.
The project is being managed the same way as the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, which has made it possible to catch up with the backlog. "All structures are working closely and we exchange information on a regular basis, so we are not only controlling but also supporting the process," Minister Hristov added. He pointed out that there are currently no concerns about the completion of the project. The gas link will allow the flow to be reversed, i.e. Bulgaria can also buy gas from Serbia. However, the minister clarified that the interconnector is mainly planned to be used in the Bulgaria-Serbia direction, as the Serbian side is still dependent on Russian gas and they have reserved capacity at the Alexandroupolis terminal that Bulgaria is building. "This possibility of reverse supplies gives us an additional security in case we need to supply gas from Central Europe," Rosen Hristov explained.
The construction of the interconnector was launched on February 1. The pipe will be almost 170 kilometres long, 62 kilometres of which are on the territory of Bulgaria. The interconnector starts from Novi Iskar and will connect to the Serbian gas pipeline network at the city of Nis.