Turkish Stream Delays Cause Alarm in Serbia

Serbia faces new worries about its gas supply after Russia's Gazprom on July 8 said it had canceled a contract with Italy's Saipem to build the first section of the Turkish Stream Pipeline under the Black Sea.

South Stream Transport, Gazprom's subsidiary, said it would soon start negotiations with new potential contractors.

But the announcement has heightened concerns among Serbian experts over Turkish Stream project.

Serbia uses about 2 billion cubic meters of gas a year and only produces about 20 per cent of that amount. The rest is imported from Russia via Ukraine and Hungary, which is currently the only gas supply route for Serbia.

After Russia warned that it would stop delivering natural gas through Ukraine by 2019, Serbian officials have invested their hopes in the Turkish Stream pipeline, which should deliver Russian natural gas to Europe via Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia.

The pipeline should have an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas which, according to experts, should be more than enough to cover the needs of Turkey and Southeast Europe combined.

The head of the Serbian Gas Association, Vojislav Vuletic, warned that Serbia could face serious problems if no new gas pipeline from Russia is built.

"Even if the pipeline from Azerbaijan is constructed there will not be enough gas for Serbia," Vuletic told Belgrade daily newspaper Blic on July 10, adding that Serbia actually has no real alternative to relying on the Russian gas supply.

On June 18, Gazprom and several European energy companies signed a Memorandum of Intent about construction of two strings of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline, which should take additional Russian gas to Europe through Germany.

However, Vuletic says getting...