Brussels, 28/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a week's time, the Russian and Turkish gas groups - Gazprom and Botas respectively - will present a joint plan for building Turkish Stream, the new Russian-Turkish gas pipeline under the Black Sea. The objective is for a Russian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement to be signed in the second quarter of 2015, then for gas to be supplied from December 2016, Gazprom announced on Tuesday 27 January.
Russia is having nothing to do with the scepticism shown by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11237) and seems determined to achieve its new gas pipeline project to Turkey in order to send gas to Europe while by-passing Ukraine. And it wants to go quickly. During a meeting in Ankara on Tuesday, Turkey's energy minister, Taner Yildiz, and the chief executive of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, assessed the preliminary results of the Turkish Stream feasibility study and decided on its route - this pipeline will comprise four sections for a maximum capacity of 63 billion cubic metres per year; it will travel along the corridor previously reserved for the defunct South Stream project for 600 kilometres, then along a new corridor towards the European part of Turkey for 250 km. Gazprom will be responsible for the part of the project under the sea, and Gazprom and Botas will jointly build the gas transport facilities on the Turkish territory.
“Within one week Gazprom and Botas will prepare a joint schedule of the (…) main activities” of the implementation plan. “Our priority tasks include analysing route options on the Turkish territory; defining the pipeline's exit point, gas delivery point for the Turkish consumers and gas pipeline intersection point on the Turkish-Greek border. We agreed to organise the work in a way that will allow us to sign an intergovernmental agreement in the second quarter of this year and start supplying Turkey with gas in December 2016”, Gazprom states in a press release.
Announcing its rejection of the South Stream project (which was due to link Russia to Europe under the Black Sea) and justifying its abandonment of the project by Bulgaria's refusal to authorise construction under Bulgarian territory due to the project's non-conformity with EU legislation, Russia announced on 1 December 2014 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey for the construction of the Turkish Stream project. The goal is to establish a gas platform for European consumers at the Greek-Turkish border and to deliver these consumers 50 billion cubic metres of gas from the 63 billion cubic metres that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline could transport. Turkey is Gazprom's second biggest market after Germany. In 2014, Gazprom exported 27.4 billion cubic metres there along the Blue Stream gas pipeline and the Trans-Balkans pipelines.
Hungary is interested. When visiting Ankara on 26 January, Hungary's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said that Budapest is ready to start talks on the transit of Russian gas via Turkey to Central Europe through Turkish Stream. “Due to the South Stream termination, we are in search of new projects, and Turkey plays an important role here (…) As soon as Turkey reaches a final agreement with Russia on the issue, we want to start negotiations on Russian gas transit to Central Europe as soon as possible”, he stated. (EH)