OREANDA-NEWS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zakharieva said that Bulgaria began to build infrastructure for the transit through the second line of the TurkStream gas pipeline.

According to the assurance of Sofia, the work will be completed on time, by 2020. By this time, Zakharieva hopes, the Balkan Stream gas pipeline will reach the border of Serbia. She added that for Bulgaria, the construction of this object will diversify sources of fuel supplies.

According to the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, the construction of the Balkan part began on October 21, and that day a ceremony was held with the participation of the Prime Minister and the Ambassador of Russia.

The gas transport operator Bulgartransgaz signed a contract for the construction of the pipeline with the Arkad consortium in September. This was preceded by six months of judicial and administrative proceedings. The contract with Arkad (which includes the Italian Arkad ABB S.p.A. and the Saudi Arkad Engineering & Construction Company) was disputed by the consortium Development and Expansion in Bulgaria (which includes Bonatti S.p.A., Max Streicher S.p.A. and Completions Development Sarl).

The second line of the TurkStream for gas transit to Europe is designed for the capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters per year. 3.5 billion cubic meters were earmarked for Bulgaria, 2.5 billion cubic meters for Serbia, 6 billion cubic meters for Hungary. The remaining 3.75 billion cubic meters can be delivered to Slovakia and Austria.