Borisov will meet with Erdogan and Putin in Istanbul

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Borisov will meet with Erdogan and Putin in Istanbul

 

 

The three will discuss gas deliveries to Bulgaria through the Turkish Stream pipeline
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will meet with Turkish President Recep Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 8th. The talk will be in Istanbul and will focus on gas supplies to Bulgaria through the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the construction of the Bulgarian diversion from it, called the Balkan Stream. Bulgarian Prime Minister has been invited to open Turkish Stream by President Erdogan. The invitation from the President of Turkey to Borisov arrived on December 29, 2019, reads "24 Hours".

Just a week earlier, US President Donald Trump drafted a US military budget law for 2020 imposing sanctions on companies involved in the implementation of Russia's Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream gas projects. This has raised concerns that Bulgaria may also be affected because Balkan Stream is actually the second pipe of the Turkish gas pipeline, which will supply more than 19 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Bulgaria. However, more than 12 billion cubic meters of gas will flow directly from Bulgaria to Serbia. The remaining amount will remain in the country for both domestic consumption and for the supply of the planned by the Bulgarian government gas hub Balkan, from which fuel will be delivered to Central and Eastern Europe.

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Bulgaria was selected for the continuation of the Turkish Stream in June 2018. The news was then reported by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the visit of the Bulgarian Prime Minister to Moscow. Putin specifically emphasized to Borisov that Bulgaria receives a departure from Turkish Stream at the insistence of Erdogan.

An alternative to the Balkan Stream was the extension of the Turkish gas pipeline through Greece and under the Adriatic to Italy. Late last year, the Russian president recalled that he had not abandoned the option and threatened to build it because Bulgaria delayed the construction of the Balkan Stream.

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Prior to his meeting with Putin and Erdogan on January 8, Borisov will have a special conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State David Hale. His department of State Department is a political issue. In Sofia, Hale will participate in the first Bulgaria-US strategic dialogue envisaged in the agreement signed in November by Boyko Borisov and US President Donald Trump. Topics will include projects for new gas pipelines and the Balkan hub, diplomatic sources explained.

Diversification of gas supplies was one of the main topics in Prime Minister Borisov's talks with US President Donald Trump.

At the end of November, at their meeting in Washington, Trump wanted Bulgaria to phase out supplies of Russian natural gas and replace it with liquefied gas from the United States, which would be delivered via a terminal in the Greek port of Alexandroupolis. According to Borisov, however, he succeeded in convincing the US President that this means for Bulgaria the change of one monopoly with another and that the true diversification is to use natural gas from as many suppliers as possible.

"I explained that we are not so dependent on Russia, but in fact it is dependent on Europe because we pay Euros and dollars for gas. Without them, there will be no revenue, "Borisov said after meeting with Donald Trump.

In a joint statement by the prime minister and the US president and in a strategic co-operation document signed after the Borisov-Trump meeting, Bulgaria's overall goal is to become a true gas hub and a key source of regional energy security.

Bulgaria has already announced that it is starting to import Russian gas via the Turkish Stream since the beginning of 2020, as it does so through the October 11th reversed gas connection between the two countries' systems. Until this year, the connection was one-way, with Turkey receiving Russian gas through the trans-Balkan pipeline passing through Ukraine and Bulgaria.
According to Gazprom, Russia's exports to Turkey via the Trans-Balkan route amounted to 10.7 billion cubic meters in 2018, while Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and the Republic of Northern Macedonia received 3.3 billion cubic meters respectively, 3.2 billion cubic meters, 1.5 billion and 0.2 billion cubic meters. These figures mean that Russia will be able to divert 19 billion cubic meters from the Ukrainian pipeline on the Trans-Balkan route.

Turkish Stream will have a significant regional impact, changing gas flow patterns. An annual flow of 25 billion cubic meters through the Trans-Balkan pipeline will be stopped and up to 19 billion cubic meters annually removed from Ukrainian transit in 2020.