Budapest is interested in joining the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, Hungarian ambassador to Russia Norbert Konkoi said.
According to him, Hungary is interested in diversification of gas routes. "We now receive gas from Russia from the east, but we are also interested in gas delivery from the south," the diplomat stressed.
"Hungary is ready to take the gas if the Bulgarian and Serbian threads are constructed," RIA Novosti cited Konkoi as saying.
Deputy director of energy policy of the Institute of Energy and Finances, Alexey Belogoriev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that despite the abundance of statements from European countries about their readiness to participate in the continuation of the Turkish Stream to Europe, the future of this part of the Russian pipeline project is still not 100% guaranteed, but the likelihood of its construction is increasing every month.
"So far, guarantees have been given by Bulgaria, but the question of whether we can fully trust them remains open. There have never been any problems with Serbia, Belgrade has always clearly supported the project’s implementation," he said.
Alexey Belogoryev noted that Hungary is interested in Turkish Stream precisely in terms of diversifying gas supplies."In terms of transit, it’s not really interested, because compared with South Stream, the planned volumes of transit supplies will be four times lower. But an alternative gas source for the domestic market is quite important for Hungary in terms of its own energy security. Hungary is skeptical of gas supply through Germany via the Nord Stream and has always asked Russia for quick alternative transportation routes in the event of a refusal of Ukrainian transit," the deputy director of energy policy of the Institute of Energy and Finances concluded.
The Turkish Stream 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.
