Turkish ambassador backs new pipeline project with Russia

Submitted by Paddy Harris on Thu, 2015-02-05 17:14

05th February 2015

The Turkish ambassador to Russia has confirmed that project design work on the South Stream replacement pipeline, Turkish Stream, has begun

The original plan to supply Europe with a new natural gas transmission network, the South Stream pipeline, was shelved by Russian president Vladimir Putin in a surprise announcement in December

Umit Yardim, Turkey’s ambassador to Russia, confirmed on Tuesday that work has begun on the new sub-Black Sea pipeline between Turkey and Russia.

"The technological realisation of the Turkish Stream project has begun,” the envoy told members of the Russian State Duma in Moscow.

The long-term plan is for the pipeline to reach Europe via a hub on the Greece-Turkey border.

"There are questions that need to be worked out, in particular, how exactly the pipeline will be laid. Both the Russian and the Turkish sides started implementing the technical part of the project, the cooperation will continue. Obtaining permission is an insignificant element of this work until the final decisions are made,” Yardim said to a Moscow conference.

Turkey is Gazprom’s second largest sales market behind Germany. In 2014 Gazprom supplied Turkey with 27.4 billion cubic metres of natural gas.

Turkey currently receives Russian natural gas via the Blue Stream and the Trans-Balkan gas pipelines.

On December 1, 2014 Gazprom and Turkish company Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation signed the Memorandum of Understanding on constructing an offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey.

The gas pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic metres, with nearly 50 billion cubic metres to be conveyed to a gas hub on the border between Turkey and Greece. Gazprom Russkaya will be in charge of the gas pipeline construction.