New gas pipeline project of Russia, Serbia and Hungary was called non-repayable

Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Russian News Service on the possibility of building new or expanding existing gas transmission facilities to increase Russian pipeline gas supplies through Serbia to EU countries.

Russia and Serbia are discussing the construction of gas pipelines that could change the energy map of Southeastern Europe, Izvestia writes. After Ukraine's refusal to transit fuel from Russia, Moscow and Belgrade have found an opportunity to bypass this barrier. It is expected that the new route through the Balkans will also be useful to the partners of the Russian Federation, Hungary and Slovakia. Russia, Serbia and Hungary are also conducting a financial assessment of the launch of an oil pipeline with a capacity of up to 3 million tons per year, which will connect Serbia with the Druzhba pipeline in Hungary. Belogoryev explained why this project is unlikely to come to fruition.

"All this is unlikely. The Balkan Stream passes through Serbia, through which gas transits through Turkey and Bulgaria to Serbia and further to Hungary, and since last year from Hungary also to Slovakia. In other words, this route is already being used for supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. There is no point in building a new corridor. It is possible to increase the capacity of the existing Balkan Stream corridor, but for this it is necessary to expand capacities in Bulgaria and Turkey, and also allocate additional volumes intended for EU countries in the Turkish Stream. Serbia is just one of the sections of a long gas transportation chain, important but not the most significant. Therefore, little depends on it here," he said.