Russian gas starts flowing to Europe via Turkey, Ukraine bypassed

Russia has started gas deliveries to Bulgaria through the new TurkStream pipeline in Turkey, Bulgaria’s national radio BNR reported on Sunday.

Speaking to BNR, Bulgartransgaz CEO Vladimir Malinov said Bulgaria began taking delivery of Russian natural gas via the TurkStream on Wednesday, a Russian move to replace a route that formerly passed through Ukraine and Romania.

“Russian gas deliveries not only for us but also for Greece and North Macedonia are being carried through the new entry point (at our Turkish border),” Malinov told Bulgarian said.

Russia’s Gazprom has been building two TurkStream pipelines and doubling the capacity of NordStream, with the controversial NordStream 2 pipeline, across the Baltic Sea in its gas deliveries to Europe.

The TurkStream’s first pipeline is aimed at supplying Turkey, while the second runs further, from Bulgaria to Serbia and Hungary. Both pipelines will ship gas with an annual capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters (bcm).

By May, Bulgaria hopes to be able to make shipments to Serbia and build the whole section by year-end.

The TurkStream pipeline will be officially inaugurated on January 8 at a ceremony in Istanbul at which both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to present.

With the TurkStream and NordStream, Russia eventually aims to bypass former ally Ukraine.

Relations between the two have been stormy ever since March 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea and pro-Russian separatists seized a swath of eastern Ukraine.

In November 2015, Ukraine halted its direct imports of Russian gas.

Meanwhile, Russia agreed on a new gas transit deal with Ukraine in December in a bid to continue to supply Europe for at least another five years via its neighbor. To do this, Russia will pay a $2.9 billion dollar settlement to Ukraine to end a legal dispute.

According to the deal, volumes of gas delivery in 2020 through Ukraine will be 65 bcm, while shipments will fall to 40 bcm annually from 2021 to 2024.

Russia currently ships natural gas via the Trans-Balkan Pipeline (TBP) through Ukraine, Romania and then Bulgaria to Turkey, Greece and North Macedonia.

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from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2020/01/05/russian-gas-starts-flowing-to-europe-via-turkey-ukraine-bypassed/