Greece Keen to Transit TS2 Gas

The Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras told Russian president Vladimir Putin December 7 that the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP) could also receive Russian gas if it is expanded. “We have completed about 80% of TAP. In this respect, I also believe that an optimal solution in terms of technology and quality would be for TAP to include Russian natural gas. I believe this would benefit the European economy, but also co-operation and growth for the whole area,” he said on a visit to Moscow.

So far the capacity of the pipeline, which starts at the Turkey-Greece border and runs westwards into Albania and finishes in southern Italy, is taken up with gas from Azerbaijan, but the capacity could be doubled. Russian gas exporter Gazprom has been keeping its plans to itself for some time about how to deliver the 15.75bn m³/yr of TurkStream 2 gas to Europe, although press reports have covered plans for exporting gas into Bulgaria and then taking it into Serbia through a new pipeline and also north into Romania, using an old one.

Azerbaijan plans to export 10bn m³/yr gas to the European Union by 2021 via TAP, but the expansion of this project, aimed to double the flow level is not exempted from Third Energy Package and it needs third-party gas to fill half the extra capacity. 

Bulgaria wants to use less Russian gas, which last year accounted for 95% of its demand. It has signed a 1bn m³/yr purchase contract with Azerbaijan for 2020 and it has also bought a quarter of a planned 6.1bn m³/yr Greek LNG terminal at Alexandroupolis. That terminal is expected to link to the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria as well.

Gazprom is now Bulgaria’s solo gas exporter, supplying 3.3bn m³ last year. The country also transited 2.9bn m³ Russian gas to Greece and about 14bn m³ to Turkey last year, gaining only $200mn as transit fee. But after launching TS1, the flow to Turkey is expected to stop.
Bulgarian official said that Gazprom should compensate it cuts flows, though unfortunately the Moscow Arbitration Court should judge on disagreements between Gazprom and Bulgargaz based on agreement, signed in 2006.