Bulgaria resumes gas supply to Serbia, Hungary and Romania after successfully repairing the ruptured 20-meter section of the TurkStream pipeline.

The pipeline ruptured on November 1, 2021, causing a major gas supply disruption, sending the countries into an emergence fuel import as Bulgaria worked to repair the pipeline for natural gas transmission.

On November 3, 2021, Bulgartransgaz, a state-owned gas transmission operator, reported it had completed the gas pipeline repair, raising hopes high for resumption in natural gas supply to the affected countries.

According to the Bulgartransgaz's Tuesday statement, it had scheduled to resume gas supply to Serbia and Hungary on November 2, starting 2400hrs local time (2200 GMT).

"At the same time, the transmission to Romania will be increased," the pipeline transmission company added.

Natural gas supply through the famously known Trans-Balkan pipeline came to a halt on Monday, September 1, following the unprecedented rapture of the pipeline section in Vetrino village and valve assembly Hrabrovo, located in the northeastern part of Bulgaria.

"On November 1, an emergency occurred at 3 am along with the gas transmission network of Bulgartransgaz in the region of the village of Vetrino. A section of the old gas pipeline transporting gas to Romania has broken," Bulgatransgaz said shortly after 8 am on Monday, November 1.

Gas transmission to Romania was partially restored a few hours after the rapture, while that for Serbia and Hungary took a bit longer before resuming gas transmission. Known as Trans-Balkan, the pipeline is one of the country's oldest pipelines built from 1986-1988, delivering high volumes of natural gas.

Russia's gas supplier, Gazprom, began supplying natural gas to Hungary and Croatia through the TurkStream, with Serbia and Hungary opening the cross-border natural gas pipelines.

Meanwhile, gas transmission is already restored and gas transmission is in progress.