October 4 (SeeNews) - Russia's Gazprom has suspended the transit of gas exports to Hungary through Ukraine and has redirected it to the extension of TurkStream natural gas pipeline in Bulgaria and Serbia, Ukrainian gas transmission operator GTS said.
The transit of natural gas to Hungary through Ukraine was suspended on the morning of October 1 when a contract for the export of 4.5 billion cu m annually to Hungary through TurkStream was signed by Gazprom, GTS said in a statement on Friday.
Gazprom signed on September 27 a 15-year agreement for the supply of 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Hungary. Gas supplies to Hungary are also carried out under contracts between Gazprom Export and other companies, as well as on the basis of single transactions, Gazprom said at the time.
"The monopolisation of gas routes by Gazprom, which we are currently witnessing, raises questions about the fundamental principles of the functioning of EU gas markets - competitiveness and transparency. The strengthening of the dominance of one player and their use of leverage for obvious political purposes against the background of the shocking rise in gas prices in Europe must be stopped," the general director of GTS, Sergei Makogon, said.
Serbia and Hungary officially opened a cross-border interconnection allowing natural gas flow through the TurkStream pipeline of Gazprom on October 1. The new gas link will transport up to 8.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungary annually, with 32% of the first year’s supply already contracted.
In December 2019, Serbia completed the laying on its territory of about 400 km of pipes of a string of the TurkStream pipeline for the transit of natural gas to Europe from Turkey via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The country received the first quantities of natural gas through Bulgaria in December 2020. Serbia will receive 13.88 billion cubic metres of gas per year through the pipeline, Bajatovic said back then.