TurkStream gas pipeline to pass through Bulgaria, energy minister says

A decision by Russia's Gazprom to book capacity in Bulgarian gas transportation systems means that the route of the second part of the TurkStream gas pipeline will pass through Bulgaria, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said on Friday.

"The fact that Gazprom Export officially announced that it will book capacity ... shows that the second pipeline of TurkSream will actually run through Bulgaria. I think this is very good news," Petkova told reporters.

According to Petkova, the decision had been made while Bulgaria's economic conditions and the market surveillance had been taken into consideration.

The amount of the natural gas that will be transferred through Bulgaria is to be decided in the next phases.

Russia and Bulgaria have been negotiating on the pipeline's route for some time.

TurkStream is one of the vital energy projects for Turkey to become an energy trading hub and it consists of two pipelines. The project is composed of an offshore segment of 930 kilometers and an onshore segment of 225 kilometers on Turkish land.

The project has an annual gas delivery capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), each with a capacity of 15.75 bcm. While the first line will provide natural gas for the Turkish market, the second line will deliver the commodity to European countries via a route through Balkan nations.