It isn't easy to say when the consumers in Serbia will start getting gas through the Turkish Stream since there are still many great unknowns about the end of its construction in Bulgaria, the experts tell the Beta news agency on Friday.

 Serbia's officials have said earlier that the pipeline will be functional by the end of last year. In contrast, President Aleksandar Vucic has recently ‘extended’ the deadline for May or September 2020.

Aleksandar Antic, Serbia's Energy Minister, said that the Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov had promised his country would finish its 308 kilometres of the gas pipeline in May.

“Bulgaria should finish the pipeline in the second half of this year, meaning that the first gas would reach Serbia in September or October, i.e., at the beginning of a new heating season.,” Antic said, but could not be sure even after Borisov's “firm” promise.

The Turkish Stream, or as it's called in Bulgaria, the Balkan Stream, is a joint venture of the Russian Gazprom and Turkish Botas and should supply gas to Turkey, South and South-East Europe.

The pipeline is 930 kilometres long with 31.5 billion cubic metres capacity per year.

The first leg goes through Turkey, while the second goes toward Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

Each leg has 15.75 billion cubic metres capacity.

It would enter Serbia near the eastern town of Zajecar and exit the country in the north, at the Horgos border crossing with Hungary, and then continue to Austria and Slovakia.

The issue with the Bulgarian part construction, the experts say, is that the start of the works is postponed for five months due to a complaint of the Saudi Arabia Arkad consortium which competed for the job.