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Lavrov says Bulgaria has informed Russia about the construction start.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the TurkStream gas pipeline's second extension is set to be completed as early as 2020.
Bulgaria has informed Russia about the start of the construction of the said gas transmission section, Lavrov told a Moscow press conference Monday following talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Ekaterina Zakharieva, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.
"The corresponding ceremony with the participation of the prime minister of Bulgaria and the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria took place literally today," Lavrov said.
According to him, the partners in the project intend to complete the work in 2020.
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*** TurkStream is a nearly 1,000 km-long gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine, laid along the bottom of the Black Sea from Russia's Krasnodar Territory to Turkey. Its first line, the construction of which was completed in April 2018, is intended for the Turkish market, the second one – for deliveries to countries of South and Southeast Europe. The annual capacity of each extension will stand at 15.75 billion cubic meters.
Bulgaria's state gas operator Bulgartransgaz has signed a EUR 1.1 billion (US$1.2 billion) contract with the consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Arkad Engineering to build a TurkStream pipeline extension to supply natural gas from Russia to parts of Europe bypassing Ukraine.
The contract envisages laying a 474-kilometer (296-mile) pipeline that would extend from Bulgaria's southern border with Turkey to its western border with Serbia. The pipeline is expected to deliver gas to Serbia, Hungary and Austria as an offshoot of Gazprom's TurkStream pipeline.