Gazprom pushes for Turkish Stream

Russian gas giant Gazprom presented the Turkish Stream project at the World Gas Conference held in Paris and later announced plans to Reuters to begin construction later this month.

By 2020, the proposed 1,090-kilometre pipeline project is planned to deliver 63 bcm (2.2 tcf) of gas a year to Turkey, of which 47 bcm (1.7 tcf) will be siphoned to Europe. The Turkish Steam will run along the same route as the proposed South Stream project, which was scrapped last December after the EU objected on competition grounds.

According to two sources from Gazprom, the Russian oil giant is planning to lay pipeline beneath the Black Sea at the end of June. The company plans to spend $5.24 billion to update Russia’s gas system in preparation of the pipeline’s route. Gazprom is also dependent on Turkey’s approval to begin laying the 280-kilometres of pipes on Turkey’s coast.

Turkey’s ambition of acquiring cheap complicates the construction of the pipeline as Ankara has not yet agreed to Gazprom’s start date. Turkey is pressing for a bigger discount, even though it has already negotiated a 10-percent discount on gas flowing through the Turkish Stream.

Source: Gazprom

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