Bulgarian gas transmission system operator (TSO) Bulgartransgaz plans to hold an open season for binding capacity booking on a new gas interconnector that will link Gazprom’s TurkStream pipeline at the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Serbia and will ship Russian gasto central Europe. More specifically, it will offer the opportunity to book capacity at two interconnection points on the Turkish-Bulgarian and Bulgarian-Serbian borders for a 15-year period starting from January 2020. Interested bidders will be invited to file their offers by mid-January 2018.
Based on the the outcome of this open season, Bulgartransgaz will then take a final investment decision (FID) and potentially invest up to €1.4bn in the gas interconnection project, which would span across 484 km. If the project is approved, it is likely to come online by 2020. In case Bulgartransgaz does not secure enough interest during this first round, two more rounds will be organized to check is the project is viable.