Serbia is interested in receiving Russian natural gas through the future Turkish Stream pipeline, prime minister Aleksandar Vucic has said.
"We need to build the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria, in order to receive gas when Russia builds the gas pipeline to Turkey," Vucic said during the Forum for International Cooperation within the framework of the One Belt, One Road strategy in Beijing, according to a Sebian government statement issued on Monday.
Serbia is already part of the EU-funded Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor but needs to get access to more Russian gas in the future, Vucic added.
Landlocked Serbia imports 82% of the gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing Hungary and Ukraine - its only source of natural gas supply. The rest comes from domestic sources.
Russia has not revealed any plans of including Serbia in the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project so far. The pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cu m and will transport Russian gas to Turkey and Europe across the Black Sea.
Earlier this month,Russian energy giant Gazprom said it hasstarted the laying of pipes for the Turkish Stream off the Russian Black Sea coast.
Serbia's government said in March the gas link with Bulgaria should be completed by 2019 and become operational a year later. In January, Bulgaria signed a memorandum of understanding with Serbia for the construction of the 150 km pipeline that will link the gas transmission systems of the two countries.
Russian gas exports to Serbia totalled 1.75 billion cu m last year, according to Gazprom data.
(SeeNews)
