Ukraine would lose around $450 million in annual revenue over the launch of the TurkStream gas pipeline, Head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) LLC Serhiy Makogon has said.

"We will look for new markets. We will offer the capacities of this gas pipeline [southern direction] to other suppliers, and if gas appears in this region, which will be economically viable for import into Ukraine, suppliers will be able to use our gas transmission system," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

Earlier, Makogon said that gas through Ukraine in the Balkan direction from January 1, 2020 is transited only for the needs of Romania and Moldova. Bulgaria, Turkey and other countries in this region no longer receive gas through Ukraine. As a result, the decrease in transit through Ukraine this year will be about 15 billion cubic meters.

In turn, Executive Officer of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko drew attention to the fact that the new operator should learn how to earn money by providing auxiliary services, since the loading of the gas transmission system of Ukraine with 90-110 billion cubic meters of gas is already impossible.

"We must be aware that bypass gas pipelines have already been built. Unfortunately, we have lost these volumes, and the possibility of replacing them is, frankly, unrealistic. We should expect that the volumes of transit through Ukraine are unlikely to be the same as before," he said.

The TurkStream gas pipeline directly connects the Turkish gas transmission system with the largest gas reserves in Russia and ensures reliable energy supplies to Turkey, South and Southeast Europe. TurkStream will annually supply up to 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the region. The gas pipeline has been operating since January 1, 2020, providing Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria and the west of Turkey instead of the previously used Trans-Balkan pipe (through Ukraine, Moldova and Romania).