Report on the Progress of Transmission Pipelines That Will Transport Gas from Sources Other Than Russia, Along with Other Pipelines Bringing Russian Gas to Europe – 2021 Edition

The country can only connect to the European network via the transmission networks in Croatia and Serbia, as Montenegro does not have a natural gas transmission network. As a result, natural gas transmission pipelines of interest to BiH are those that can impact the gas networks in Croatia and Serbia. The selection criteria for identifying the most important projects have been specified in the report Methodology and Assessment Criteria to Monitor Natural Gas Projects Relevant for BiH Security of Supply, USAID EPA, 2020. Key conclusions from that report are that natural gas transmission pipelines of interest to BiH are those that can impact the gas networks in Croatia and Serbia, and only projects in advanced implementation stages are of interest. The main source of projects is the 2020 Ten-Year Network Development Plans (TYNDP) developed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). This report includes different types of projects that are in various stages of implementation. Regarding the stage of implementation, of particular interest are FID Projects, Non-FID Advanced Projects, and Projects of Common Interest (PCI) from the 4th PCI List in the two gas priority corridors. Projects submitted to ENTSOG to be included in the TYNDP 2020 are divided into four groups: transmission projects, liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, underground gas storage (UGS) projects, and energy transition (ETR) projects. For this report, only the transmission projects from the TYNDP 2020 will be considered. In total, 262 projects were submitted to ENTSO-G to be included in the TYNDP 2020, of which 151 are in the category of gas transmission and compressor stations projects. According to the stage of implementation, the 151 transmission projects are categorized as FID projects, Advanced projects, and Less-Advanced projects. FID projects are those with a final investment decision taken before the closure of the TYNDP project collection period. Advanced projects are those with commissioning year expected at the latest by 31 December 2024, or those whose permitting phase has started ahead of the TYNDP 2020 project data collection, or those with front-end engineering design (FEED) started ahead of the TYNDP 2020 project data collection. The report identifies 45 FID projects, of which 13 are also PCI projects. The FID projects include the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP), the Interconnector Bulgaria-Serbia (IBS), and the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (ICGB). The report also identifies 43 Advanced projects, of which 15 are also PCI projects. The Advanced projects include the Turkish Stream project, which directly connects Russia and Turkey and will supply Southeast Europe and beyond via Bulgaria and Serbia. The report concludes that the natural gas transmission network in BiH is currently limited in its connectivity to the European network, and that natural gas transmission pipelines of interest to BiH are those that can impact the gas networks in Croatia and Serbia. The report identifies several projects that are in advanced implementation stages and are of interest to BiH, including FID projects, Advanced projects, and PCI projects.