Serbia has completed the construction of an interconnector to the pipeline to Bulgaria, allowing the Balkan country to diversify its gas supplies and reduce its dependence on Russia. This was reported by the German edition of Deutsche Welle, UNN reports.
Details
It is noted that the opening ceremony of the pipeline was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Bulgarian and Azerbaijani and Azerbaijani counterparts, Rumen Radev and Ilham Aliyev.
Thanks to this interconnector, we provide alternative gas supplies other than Russian gas
Supplement
The new pipeline connecting Serbia with EU member Bulgaria is aimed at reducing EU member, aims to reduce Serbia's dependence on Russian gas. Serbia and other countries in Central and Southeastern Europe will now have access to Azerbaijan's exports.
The pipeline, which runs from the Bulgarian city of Novi Iskir to the Serbian city of Nis, will give Belgrade access to gas from Azerbaijan and to the LNG terminal in the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.
On November 15, Serbia signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to to purchase 400 million cubic meters of natural gas per year starting in 2024.
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The capacity of the 170-kilometer (105-mile) gas pipeline on the Serbian side is 1.8 billion cubic meters per year, which is 60% of the country's of the country's annual gas demand of about 3 billion cubic meters.
The European Union supported the project with grants totaling 49.6 million euros and loans of 25 million euros. Serbia itself is not a member of the EU. member of the EU, but has been negotiating to join the bloc since 2014.