Presidents of Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Serbia Attend Trial Run of Serbia-Bulgaria Natural Gas Interconnector

Betaphoto

The Serbia-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector was activated for a trial run on Dec. 10 which was watched by the presidents of Serbia, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, Aleksandar Vucic, Rumen Radev and Ilham Aliyev, and EU Delegation head to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret.

The construction of the 109-kilometer natural gas pipeline from Nis to Dimitrovgrad took 12 months. The cost of building the interconnector was EUR85.5 million. The European Union gave EUR49.6 million in grants for the project, Serbia provided EUR15 million and another EUR7.5 million for the preparations and design, while EUR25 million came from the European Investment Bank in the form of a loan to Serbia.

The Bulgarian president said the launch of the interconnector would change the energy landscape of Europe, and that the interconnector was a symbol of rising technological capacities and the successful and fruitful cooperation between Serbia, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. Giaufret said the interconnector linked Serbia and the EU and reduced the use of coal, and thereby pollution. This interconnector is part of overall EU support to Serbia's energy sector and ending its dependence on Russian gas, he stressed.

Aliyev said the Bulgaria-Serbia gas interconnector would contribute to the energy security of the two countries, but Europe, too. Vucic said Serbia had done more to build its gas pipeline network over the last three years than in the past 70, announcing the construction of pipelines to Vranje, via Mt Zlatibor and Nova Varos, Prijepolje and Priboj.