Serbia will soon receive Russian natural gas via Turkish Stream pipeline

Work to extend the Turkish Stream pipeline in Serbia is expected to be finished in the coming weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić.

“Serbia has been connected to the gas pipeline network that is an extension of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline…” Putin said, adding that an agreement has been reached to increase gas storage capacity in Serbia’s underground facilities from 750 million cubic meters to 2 billion cubic meters.

“We have no doubt that the implementation of these large-scale energy projects will help to significantly strengthen energy security not only in Serbia, but also for the entire Balkan region and Europe as a whole,” the Russian president said.

The Turkish Stream project, agreed by Moscow and Ankara three years ago, consists of two lines with annual capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters. The first branch will deliver Russian natural gas directly to Turkey, while the second stretches to the Turkish-European border to reach European customers.The first deliveries of Russian gas via the pipeline are scheduled for the end of this year.

Russian energy major Gazprom started to fill the first branch of the offshore section of the pipeline with gas in October. The Turkish Stream project was created as an alternative to the South Stream route through Bulgaria, a project the country scrapped under pressure from the EU and the US.

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