Serbia’s Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović, together with the Head of the EU’s Serbia Delegation, Emanuele Giofre toured the construction of the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnector on Tuesday (18 April).
“The construction of the gas interconnection is of strategic importance for our energy sector because by building this pipeline we will get the possibility to supply gas from several sources, such as Azerbaijan and the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece,” Minister Đedović added. “In the previous period, we solved many challenges on the project, and today the works started on the most difficult section of the gas pipeline, where the gas interconnection intersects with the highway.”
The Minister added that thus far around about 90 per cent of the pipes have been delivered to the construction site and that the physical construction of the pipeline at this stage is greater than planned.
The EU Serbia Delegation chief said that he is glad to see how this project is progressing and that the EU continues to be committed to diversifying the gas supply in Serbia and increasing the resilience and competitiveness of its energy system. “We are eagerly awaiting the gas that will flow through this pipeline in the next heating season,” Ambassador Giofre added.
Serbia has also received an offer to participate in the EU’s new joint gas procurement platform, the Ambassador said.
Construction of the gas interconnector, connecting Serbia with the EU, began in February 2022 and is planned to be finished in the final quarter of this year. In addition to greater security of supply and diversification of supplies, the pipeline will enable further development of the gas pipeline network in the south of the country, Serbia’s Mining and Energy Ministry said.
The interconnector will cost around 90 million euros, with more than half of the financing coming from EU grants (49.6 million euros) as well as an EIB loan of 25 million euros and national co-financing.
