Bulgaria has successfully completed the third market test for Turkish Stream with the full capacity of the future pipeline being booked by companies, and will move forward with plans to join the project, the state-owned gas network operator Bulgartransgaz said on January 31.

The company performed two other market tests which failed to attract the desired interest, and changed the parameters to test the interest for last time. The result was necessary for Sofia to decide whether to become part of the second line of the Turkish Stream (TurkStream) pipeline, which will extend the pipeline to Europe.

Three companies filed binding offers in the last phase, booking the full capacity at the borders with Serbia and Turkey, Bulgartransgaz said in a statement.

“Following the achieved positive result, Bulgartransgaz took final investment decision for implementation of the "Project for development and expansion of the gas transmission system" and will accordingly enter into binding capacity contracts with the candidates who submitted binding offers,” Bulgartransgaz said.

Gazprom has determined the itinerary of the second line of the Turkish Stream pipeline will span Bulgaria and Serbia starting from 2020, then go through Hungary and Slovakia starting from 2021 and the second half of 2022, respectively.

In December, Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said that the country will spend €1.4bn ($1.59bn) to build a new gas link to Turkey to transport Russian gas from the Turkish Stream pipeline.