The authorities of Turkey have issued the first permits for the construction of a high-capacity gas pipeline “Turkish Stream”, the press office of the Russian gas giant told Construction.RU on Wednesday. It said that the approval had been granted during a meeting between Energy Minister Berat Albayrak and Gazprom CEO Miller in Istanbul last week. It reflects the Turkish government’s interest in the project, according to a statement published on Gazprom’s website, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. The project will consist of four pipelines and will cost more than $10 billion.
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Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu proposed to connect the Russia-developed Turkish Stream pipeline which envisages Russian gas supplies to Turkey and further to Europe bypassing Ukraine to the TANAP pipeline, which will pump gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field to Turkey and to Europe.
He also said that construction of the Turkish Streams first line and explorations in territorial waters of Turkey are expected to start the same months, after all required permits are obtained. The ministry’s statement revealed, “Both parties expressed mutual determination to take steps to guarantee Turkey’s rights arising from the contract within the framework of the arbitration process, and resolve the question that led to this process”.
Russian Federation unveiled plans to build the Turkish Stream as a replacement for the South Stream pipeline in December 2014. In Aug. 2016 the Presidents of two countries Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to resume the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.
The Turkish Stream project is created to transfer Russian natural gas to Europe via the Black Sea and Turkey.
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On December 1, 2014, Gazprom and Turkeys Botas signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of the Turkish Stream with the capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
