BELGRADE (Serbia), July 10 (SeeNews) – Serbian energy minister Aleksandar Antic has said Russia's Turkish Stream gas pipeline project will be included in the Third Energy Package of the European Union, given the interest of Bulgaria and Hungary in joining the project.
"The developments in Bulgaria and the readiness of Hungary to become part of the project, as well as the correspondence that it is being carried out under the Third Energy Package, show that the project becomes more and more realistic," Antic said in an interview with local private TV channel Prva, according to a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Sunday.
The European Union's Third Energy Package is a legislative framework for operation of the internal gas and electricity market of the bloc.
Russian media quoted Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic as saying earlier this month that his country could reap a revenue of up to 150 million euro ($171 million euro) per year from transit fees if neighbouring Bulgaria builds a gas hub near the Black Sea port of Varna.
Gas can be fed into the hub from Russia, from Bulgaria's potential gas deposits in the Black Sea or, via interconnectors with Greece and Turkey, from the Caspian region or the Eastern Mediterranean, or from the Greek and Turkish LNG terminals. The gas hub could also be supplied via an interconnector with Romania, which is estimated to have significant gas deposits in the Black Sea shelf.
Landlocked Serbia imports 82% of the gas it needs from Russia through a pipeline crossing Hungary and Ukraine. The rest comes from domestic sources.