Slovakia's Eustream proposes a natural gas pipeline with
an annual capacity of up to 40 billion cu m connecting the countries in
Southeast Europe (SEE) with Western Europe that could be operational by 2019,
the company's general manager said on Friday.
The construction of the
pipeline could be completed by the end of 2018, Rastislav Nukovic said in an
interview for Bulgarian state-run radio broadcaster BNR.
Initially, its
annual capacity would be up to 15 billion cu m but if demand grows, it can
increase to up to 40 billion cu m, Nukovic said, without disclosing either the
financial parameters of the project, or the financing options.
Gas can be
piped from Italy, Germany or Austria, or from Russia via Turkish Stream, he
said.
“There are two options – one is that the pipeline go to Slovakia
and from there on through Ukraine, or through Hungary,“ he said, adding that the
company is still holding talks on the pipeline's route. If the pipeline crosses
Ukraine, it could use the existing infrastructure, while if it goes through
Hungary, new pipes will be need to be laid.
Eustream is holding talks on
the project with gas companies in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, including
Bulgarian state-operated gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz and its
parent Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), as well as other potential partners in
Europe.
“As for Bulgaria, we are currently expecting some 3 billion cu m
per year [of natural gas to flow through the pipeline] given needed imports are
2.7 billion [cu m per year],” he said.
SEE is heavily dependent on
Russian gas imports to meet its needs. In December Russian president Vladimir
Putin said Russia had abandoned plans to build the South Stream gas pipeline and
would build another pipeline system to Turkey instead. The South Stream gas
pipeline, spearheaded by Gazprom, was planned to carry gas from Russia to
central and southern Europe via Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia. The
total value of the project was estimated at 16 billion euro ($18.1 billion).
Commercial operation of South Stream was scheduled to start by the end of 2015
with the pipeline reaching its full capacity of some 63 billion cu m per year by
2017.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece committed in December last
year to develop a vertical gas corridor, connecting the three countries, while
Bulgaria sent a letter to the European Commission proposing to build an
EU-funded regional gas hub near the Black Sea port of Varna to dispatch Russian
gas deliveries to the rest of Europe. Parallel to that, Bulgaria and Serbia
decided to update the parameters of and expedite work on a gas interconnector
linking the two countries.
Bulgaria imports almost all the natural gas it
needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing the territories of Ukraine,
Moldova and Romania.