BELGRADE, April 15. /TASS/. The permit for the implementation Serbian section of the TurkStream gas pipeline project will be issued before the end of April, the construction will officially begin soon, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said at a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Serbian town of Subotica on Monday.

"Another great project for us is the TurkStream gas pipeline project which will run through Bulgaria, Serbia to reach Hungary. We have already started laying the groundwork, while the permit for the construction of the first two sections will be issued before the end of the month. Soon, we will officially begin constructing the Serbian section of the TurkStream pipeline," Brnabic said in a speech broadcast by the national RTS TV channel.

On March 5, the Serbian Energy Agency approved the construction of the Serbian TurkStream pipeline, the works were scheduled to begin in April. The joint venture of the Russian energy giant Gazprom and Srbijagas, Gastrans d.o.o. Novi Sad, will administer the construction of the pipeline running from the Bulgarian border to the Hungarian border.

Earlier, General Manager of Srbijagas Dusan Bajatovic pointed out that Serbia was ready to begin the pipeline construction in late March - early April. The project is scheduled to be completed by December 15. The Serbian section of TurkStream will begin supplying natural gas before the end of April 2020.

TurkStream pipeline

The TurkStream pipeline extension to Serbia was one of the key issues discussed at the negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic on January 17. The Russian leader pointed out that Moscow is ready for such a project and can invest around $1.4 billion to develop the Serbian infrastructure for the construction of the pipeline through the country.

The Serbian section of TurkStream is intended to begin near the town of Zajecar near the Bulgarian border and cross the border with Hungary near the town of Horgos. The pipeline’s input capacity is expected to be around 13.88 mln cubic meters of gas per day, while the output capacity - around 10 mln cubic meters.

TurkStream is a gas pipeline that is being constructed under the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey and further on to the border with Greece, bypassing Ukraine. The first line is intended for the Turkish market, the second branch is going to supply the countries of Southern and Southeastern Europe. Gazprom considers Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary as potential markets.