Serbia and Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom have signed a memorandum to study building a gas pipeline running from Bulgaria through Serbia and Croatia to Italy, the Russian gas firm said.
The project, which Serbia has said could cost more than $800 million, is designed to increase Gazprom’s exports to Europe, which already gets a quarter of its gas from Russia. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Serbia’s gas monopoly Srbijagas and Gazprom’s export arm Gazpromexport.
During the winter season, Serbia consumes around 10 million cubic meters of gas a day. It traditionally relies on Gazprom supplies with the gas arriving via Ukraine and Hungary. The new Serbian segment could ultimately be linked to the Blue Stream pipeline running from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea. Turkey could then ship gas onward to Bulgaria.
Like most European countries, Serbia faced gas shortages last winter due to a spat between Gazprom and Ukraine over gas prices. The government said at the time that it would try to find alternative delivery routes.