March 22 (SeeNews) - Hungary hopes to start receiving natural gas imports from Russia through a planned section of the TurkStream pipeline through Bulgaria and Serbia in the second half of 2021, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said.
"We have all chances to start receiving gas [from Russia] through the new supply channel," Szijjarto said in an interview aired live by Russian TV broadcaster Rossiya 24 on Thursday.
The Hungarian government has held multiple meeting with Serbian and Bulgarian officials to adjust the timetable for the development of the TurkStream pipeline section, as the launch of new routes for the supply of natural gas have an utmost importance, Szijjarto said as seen in a video file posted on the YouTube channel of Rossiya 24 on Friday.
"TurkStream and the investments in Bulgaria and Serbia are very important for us because there is still no agreement on the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine as of the end of this year," Szijjarto added.
Earlier this month, the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandr Chepurin, said Russia plans to suspend natural gas exports to Southeast Europe through the Trans-Balkan Corridor crossing Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria next year.
Gazprom plans to build a section of its Turkish Stream pipeline for transit of natural gas to Europe from Turkey via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. The offshore section of Turkish Stream pipeline, stretching 930 km across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey, consists of two parallel strings with annual throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres of gas each. One string is intended for consumers in Turkey, while the second is planned to carry gas to customers in Europe. The future section of the transit pipeline on the territory of Serbia, approximately 400 km in length, will link the Serbian natural gas transmission system to those of Bulgaria and Hungary.