Serbia inaugurates key gas pipeline

Serbia

BELGRADE, December 11, 2023 – Serbia has completed building an interconnector to a pipeline in Bulgaria that will meet 60% of the country’s annual gas demand, Reuters reported on Sunday.

The 170-kilometre pipeline has the capacity to deliver 1.8 bcm of gas per year.

The gas highway connects Novi Iskar, Bulgaria, to Nis, Serbia, and allows the latter nation to source supply from Azerbaijan and the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece.

The project received funds of USD 53.4 million from the European Commission and USD 26.9 million from the European Investment Bank, with the remaining USD 24.2 million covered by the Serbian government.

The inauguration was attended by Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev and Emanuele Giaufret, the head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia.

Serbia signed a deal with Azerbaijan in November 2023 for the delivery of 400 mcm of gas per year from 2024.

The South Caucasian nation has raised its European deliveries to account for more than 50% its gas exports.

“If in 2021, our gas exports to Europe totalled a little more than 8 billion cubic metres, then this year the volume of supplies will reach around 12 billion cubic metres,” said Aliyev.

According to Azerbaijan’s president, the country is on its way to supplying Europe with 20 bcm of gas per year by 2027.

Greece is also making headway on its target to become a gas highway to Europe, with Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy Alexandra Sdoukou announcing that the country intends to quadruple its gas export potential by the end of 2030 at an LNG conference in November 2023.

Also in November, Seatrium delivered Greece’s first FSRU to be deployed at the Alexandroupoli floating LNG terminal.

The Alexandroupoli project is expected to be commissioned at the beginning of 2024.

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