The Serbian Government has announced the start of operations of the Bulgaria-Serbia gas pipeline interconnector, which has a capacity of 1.8 bcm/year. The 170 km pipeline (including 109 km in Serbia) runs from the town of Novi Iskar in Bulgaria to the Serbian city of Nis It will allow Serbia to access gas from Azerbaijan and the LNG terminal in the Greek port of Alexandroupolis, thus reducing Serbia’s dependence on Russian gas imports.
The European Commission granted €49.6m for the construction of the interconnector. Another €25m was secured in a single loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) while €22.5m was provided by Serbia.
In November 2023, the Serbian and Azerbaijani governments signed a package of documents that include a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Gas Sales Agreement between their national gas companies, State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Srbijagas, for the supply of 400 mcm/year of natural gas to Serbia starting in 2024.