ANKARA 

Russia will begin delivering natural gas to Hungary via the TurkStream pipeline in the second half of 2021, Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said late Thursday.

According to Russian news agency Tass, Szijjarto asserted that Hungary would receive the gas with a good possibility that new deliveries would start by approximately the second half of 2021.

The TurkStream natural gas pipeline has a total capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters, out of which the first line will carry a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Turkish consumers. The second line will carry another 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe via Turkey.

The second line of the project to transfer Russian gas to Europe is expected to route through Bulgaria following transmission via Turkey. TurkStream gas plans to run from Turkey to Bulgaria, then Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia.