Report: PM: Bulgaria holds back TurkStream building on EU procedures

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Bulgaria is lagging behind the schedule of construction of Russian gas pipeline TurkStream because it has to fulfill obligatory E.U. proceedings, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told Russian President Vladimir Putin, as broadcast by channel bTV on Thursday.

“We sticks to the E.U. procedures. Anyone is entitled to look for alternative routes, we are looking for alternative diversification,” Borisov said.

“We started late because we had to fulfill loads of procedures. We fulfill the procedures and consequently we are sure that we will build it. When we have vast capacities and ready gas trunk lines next year, believe me, this will be the only fast and good alternative for the Russian gas.”

Putin said earlier that Bulgaria was intentionally dragged its feet in construction of TurkStream, presumably, under the pressure from a third side. He also said that Russia can seek an alternative route of the pipeline.

The TurkStream pipeline was designed to consist of two branches with a length of over 900 kilometers and a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. One of them, finished in May 2018, is to carry Russian gas to Turkey, while the other is to transit gas to the European countries through Turkey and is to be finished in 2019. Bulgartransgaz plans to build an extension of TurkStream to Europe imtil the end of 2020.

Gazprom plans to launch TurkStream this year. Gazprom said on Tuesday that pre-commissioning works are at a final stage and both threads of the pipeline are filled with gas.

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