Brussels, 23/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Turkish government gave permission on Monday 22 June for engineering surveys to be carried out in Turkey's exclusive economic zone and in Turkish territorial waters for the offshore part of Turk Stream, the Russian-Turkish project for a gas pipeline under the Black Sea.
The offshore section of Turk Stream will consist of four lines, each with a throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres. The pipeline will stretch for 660 kilometres within the existing South Stream corridor and for 250 kilometres within a new corridor towards the European part of Turkey. Natural gas from the first gas pipeline leg is expected to be exclusively for the growing Turkish market, says Russian gas group Gazprom in a press release.
On Monday, Turkey also confirmed that the outcome of an environmental impact study for the Turkish part of South Stream can be used for the Turk Stream project.
Gazprom and Turkish gas group Botas signed a memorandum of understanding on 1 December 2014 for the construction of Turk Stream, which will have a total capacity of 63 billion cubic metres of gas per annum. (Emmanuel Hagry)