Serbia, FYROM, Greece, Turkey, Hungary Plan to Tackle Jointly Energy Security

Serbia, Hungary, Greece, FYROM and Turkey have agreed to pursue joint infrastructure initiatives that would ensure the energy stability of the region, especially after the demise of the South Stream gas pipeline project, Serbian foreign minister Ivica Dacic said.

In December, Russia abandoned the project to build the South Stream pipeline, which was planned to carry gas from Russia under the Black Sea, making landfall in Bulgaria and then continuing through Serbia and Hungary towards Austria. The initiative was replaced by a Gazprom-spearheaded project for a pipeline system to Turkey - Turkish Stream.

The first steps expected to be taken are to define the gas project of common interest and then to draft a joint feasibility study, Dacic said in a government statement issued after he met with counterparts from Hungary, Greece and FYROM and with Turkey's energy security minister in Budapest on Tuesday.

The five ministers co-signed a declaration, expressing their support to create a commercially viable option of route and source diversification for delivering natural gas from Turkey to the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe as well as other countries.

The parties agreed, among other goals, to work on new possibilities for creating regional economic development via interconnecting the natural gas infrastructures of their countries with European Union financial assistance; and to complement the operation of gas storage facilities with the aim of facilitating trading, providing seasonal balancing and increasing the security of supply in case of disruption of gas supplies.

The declaration said it affirms political intent only while further exchange of views and dialogue is needed on the specific questions among the respective participating states, as well as the concerned stakeholder companies.

The cancellation of South Stream has put Serbia in a very tough position. The country produces only about 20% of the gas it needs and has only one main route of gas supply - through Hungary, coming from Russia via Ukraine. This supply route, however, was blocked by a spat between Russia and Ukraine several years ago, Dacic said.

He added that talks should be conducted to raise financing for such a project with third parties, be it governments or corporations.

In January, Gazprom said 660 km ofTurkish Stream's route will belaid within the old corridor ofSouth Streamand 250 km –within anew corridor towards theEuropean part ofTurkey. The pipeline will comprise four strings with anaggregate capacity of63billion cu m per year.

Source: SeeNews