Russian gas company Gazprom announced on Tuesday 6 December that construction work on the offshore segment of Turkish Stream, which will link Russia and Turkey under the Black Sea, will start in the second half of 2017. Turkish Stream, it said, would be in service by the end of 2019. Gazprom stated that it was looking at connecting Turkish Stream with the planned Greek-Italian Poseidon pipeline to supply south-east Europe.
“Poseidon is one of the options [connecting Turkish Stream] to European consumers. While there are other options being considered, at the moment this has the priority”, said Gazprom chief Alexey Miller as he announced that the findings of a feasibility study on Turkish Stream entry points to the EU would be available in mid-December. The feasibility study was conducted as part of the memorandum of understanding signed in February with the promoters of the Poseidon project, Italian energy group Edison and Greek gas company DEPA.
Miller said, too, the Italian energy group ENI had confirmed to Gazprom its interest in cooperating on gas supply on the new transport corridors via the Black Sea.
“We’re seeing interest from our Italian partners at the corporate level. The Italian side is interested to carry our point of delivery of Russian gas to the south of Italy”, Miller noted.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a draft law on Tuesday ratifying the inter-governmental agreement signed with Russia on 10 October to construct Turkish Stream. This project will see the construction of two lines, each with a capacity of almost 16 billion cubic metres, one to supply the Turkish market and the other the European market. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)