BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.10
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Serbia hopes that the Southern Gas Corridor will level gas prices on its market, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Mining and Energy, prof. Dr. Zorana Mihajlovic told Trend.
“The Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection will provide Serbia with the possibility of getting natural gas from other suppliers, such as LNG terminals in Greece, TAP and TANAP gas pipelines, which are part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which transports gas from the Caspian and Middle East regions. In the future, after the completion of the Eastern Mediterranean project, it will be possible to acquire gas from the coastal reserves of the Leviathan field, i.e. Cyprus and Israel, which is important for the energy security of Serbia and the region,” she said.
Mihajlovic noted that Bulgaria is already being supplied with gas from Azerbaijan, but also from the LNG terminal in Greece.
“And we hope that by following that example, we will be able to diversify our natural gas supply routes. In addition to contributing to security of supply this should also certainly have a favorable effect on the leveling of gas prices on the Serbian market,” added the deputy prime minister.
The Southern Gas Corridor, which is comprised of Shah Deniz 2, the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion, the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) became fully operational on December 31, 2020.
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) AG confirmed on Dec. 31, 2020 the commencement of gas flows from Azerbaijan. The first gas has reached Greece and Bulgaria, via the Nea Mesimvria interconnection point with DESFA, as well as Italy, via the Melendugno interconnection point with SNAM Rete Gas (SRG).
TAP has to date transported 6 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. TAP’s total capacity is 10 billion cubic meters with possibility of expansion to 20 billion cubic meters per year. TAP is designed to supply 8 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy and 1 billion cubic meters to Greece and Bulgaria each.
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