TurkStream on the diversifying south-eastern European gas market
TurkStream on the diversifying south-eastern European gas market

Author(s): Agata Loskot-Strachota, Mateusz Seroka, Marta Szpala
Subject(s): Energy and Environmental Studies, Environmental and Energy policy, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Financial Markets
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Keywords: TurkStream; south-eastern European gas market; European line of TurkStream; Bulgaria; gas transit;
Summary/Abstract: December 2020 saw the completion of another part (Bulgaria–Serbia) of the European section of the TurkStream gas pipeline, through which gas has been exported from Russia to south--eastern Europe since January 2020. The capacity of the entire route is not yet being fully used, but it has already reduced Russia’s dependence on transit via Ukraine. In 2020, around12 bcm of gas was sent via TurkStream instead of Ukrainian pipelines: half to Turkey, and the rest to Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia. Ultimately, the pipeline will also transport gas via Serbia to Hungary, Austria and Romania. The rapid implementation of the entire project, in a region where infrastructure investments usually take a long time, represents a success for the Kremlin. Neither the economic challenges linked to the COVID-19 pandemic nor the political opposition of the US to new links between Europe and Russia (which will mainly strike at the Nord Stream 2 pipeline) have got in the way of the project’s completion.

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