The opening of import booking opportunities at the Malkoclar-Strandzha interconnector point marks a step forward in the efforts of Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine to prepare for a halt to the remaining Russian supplies transiting Ukraine at the end of December this year.
The agreement will enable Turkey to increase gas supplies via this route by an estimated 4 billion cubic metres per annum, according to Botas.
The Turkish state oil and gas transmission operator added that the volumes can be booked at a rate of 10 million cubic metres per day of gas in the first and fourth quarters of this year, and 11 MMcmd in the second and third quarters.
According to Bulgartransgaz, the Malkoclar-Strandzha agreement is of “key importance for diversification of natural gas sources not only for Bulgaria but also for the regional and European gas markets”.
“Via Turkey’s gas transmission network, access is provided to natural gas [sourced] from local fields, Azerbaijan, Iran and the global LNG market through Turkey’s regasification terminals”, Bulgartransgaz said.
The Malkoclar-Strandzha interconnector stands at one of the ends of the legacy Trans-Balkan gas pipeline that runs from Russia across Ukraine to Moldova and then along the Black Sea shore, then dividing into lines to Turkey and Greece.
Russian gas giant Gazprom had previously used this pipeline to deliver Russian gas to Turkey and other countries along the route.
However, Gazprom abandoned the route in 2020 after commissioning the TurkStream subsea pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey, with TurkStream’s second line dedicated to substituting gas supplies being sent via the Trans-Balkan pipeline.
Current gas supplies from TurkStream to Hungary and Serbia are sent via the neighbouring Malkoclar-Strandzha 2 interconnection at the border between Bulgaria and Turkey.
According to data collected by European transmission operators’ association Entsog, these Russian gas deliveries have been running close to the 41.6 MMcmd throughput capacity of TurkStream’s second line, almost similar to remaining Russian gas deliveries across Ukraine to Europe.
(upstreamonline.com, 13 February 2024)