Bulgaria Halts Gas Supplies To Serbia, Romania, Hungary After Pipeline Rupture

Bulgaria's gas transport operator Bulgartransgaz stopped natural gas supplies to neighboring Serbia, Romania, as well as Hungary further north after a pipeline, ruptured near the city of Varna

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2021) Bulgaria's gas transport operator Bulgartransgaz stopped natural gas supplies to neighboring Serbia, Romania, as well as Hungary further north after a pipeline, ruptured near the city of Varna.

"At 3 a.m. (1;00 GMT), an emergency occurred in Bulgartransgaz EAD's gas transmission network near the village of Vetrino when an old pipeline that sends natural gas to Romania tore," a statement read.

The pipeline connects to TurkStream, which transports Russian gas under the Black Sea through Turkey.

Gas flow to Romania stopped automatically at 3:15 a.m. and to Serbia at 7 a.m. Transmission to Romania was partially restored after 8 a.m.

"The company suffered material damage but there are no victims in the area of the accident and no material damage was inflicted upon third parties," the statement continued.

The northern Serbian municipality of Novi sad with a population of some 340,000 lost access to hot water and heating on Monday morning after gas supplies to a local thermal power station stopped.