Bulgaria, Turkey Commission New Pipe
Bulgaria and Turkey have jointly commissioned a new cross border pipeline link which will expand transit capacity between the two countries and could be utilised by the planned second stage of Gazprom's TurkStream to carry gas to markets in south east Europe.
The new 20km section of line inside Bulgaria - which is phase one of the country's plan to modernise, rehabilitate and expand the network operated by state gas transit operator Bulgartransgaz - runs between the Lozenets compressor station and Nedyalsko on the Bulgarian side of the border and has the objective of increasing the cross-border transit capacity of the existing Transbalkan gas line from 14bn m3/yr to 15.75bn m3/yr. The line has been constructed using 40 inch diameter pipe, operating at 50 bar pressure.
The Transbalkan pipeline currently carries 14bn m3/yr of Russian gas south through Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria to Turkey, gas which from the end of 2019 will be delivered via the TurkStream pipeline now under construction beneath the Black Sea, raising the possibility of Transbalkan being used in reverse to carry TurkStream gas to European markets.
Turkeys state news agency Anatolia quoted newly-appointed Turkish energy minister Fatih Donmez as stating that the new pipeline would allow flow through the existing transit line to be reversed with Bulgaria able to receive Russian gas from Turkey via TurkStream.
Construction of the first phase of TurkStream which will deliver 15.75bn m3/yr of gas to Turkey is nearing completion, with work on the landfall section of line underway and Turkey's state importer and gas grid operator Botas expected to complete the overland connection to its existing transit grid at Luleburgaz on schedule by the end of 2019.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for that section of line indicates it will be constructed with 48-inch diameter pipe, sufficient to carry the 31.5bn m3/yr flow of both sections of TurkStream.
Plans for the final overland section of Turkstream from Luleburgaz to either the Turkey-Greece or Turkey-Bulgaria borders are less clear. Two months ago Turkey and Russia agreed on a route for the export line but have yet to publish details.
One industry source told NGW last month that the export string of Turkstream will run subsea, from Turkey's maritime border to Bulgaria and will not pass through Turkey; this too has not been confirmed.
Bulgaria meanwhile remains involved in projects to diversify its gas imports, through partnerships with Greek and wider European ventures, that would bring in Azeri gas and regasified LNG from Greece.