Bulgaria expects to finish Russia pipeline on time

 Bulgaria says it aims to build on time its stretch of a pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Europe, despite unforeseen delays due to COVID pandemic.

474-kilometer (296-mile) Bulgarian stretch of pipeline will be rey by end of this year, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Monday during a joint inspection of construction site with visiting Serbian President Alexander Vucic.

Two pipelines called Turkstream run about 930 km (580 miles) across Black Sea, from Russia to Turkey. first is to supply Turkey, while second will carry gas to customers in Europe through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. Each will have annual capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

“We hope to meet timeline and have it rey by year end,” Borissov told reporters.

He said pipeline could carry t only Russian supplies but also gas from a liquefied natural gas terminal being built in rrn Greece as well as gas from Azerbaijan.

“This would be a diversification t only for Bulgaria, but also for Serbia and whole region,” he said and ded that pipeline complies fully with European Union rules.

In Bulgaria, a Saudi-Italian consortium launched construction of country’s stretch of TurkStream last October.

Serbia has alrey completed construction of pipeline along 403-km (252-mile) stretch on its territory.