Bulgarian gas transmission system operator (TSO) Bulgartransgaz has closed the open season process for the planned expansion of the country’s gas transit capacity. The entire capacity offered at two interconnection points on the Turkish-Bulgarian and Bulgarian-Serbian borders for a 15-year period starting from January 2020 has been successfully booked. Three companies filed binding offers for capacity, including Gazprom, Bulgaria’s state-owned Bulgargaz and Swiss-headquartered energy company MET. The three bidders have booked to ship smaller quantities in 2020 that will rise to 17.6 bcm/year at the border with Turkey and to about 11 bcm/year at the border with Serbia.
Bulgartransgaz also took the final investment decision (FID) to build the 484 km long gas interconnector that will link Gazprom’s TurkStream pipeline at the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Serbia and will ship Russian gas to central Europe. The project is estimated to amount approximately €1.4bn and will be commissioned in 2020, after the TurkStream gas pipeline (31.5 bcm/year pipeline, of which 15.75 bcm/year for southern and south-eastern Europe).