Further Progress on TurkStream Completed
The offshore section of the Russian-Turkish natural gas pipeline Turkish Stream, also called TurkStream, has officially opened with a ceremony in Istanbul. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The TurkStream project, led Russian gas company Gazprom, will be a 1,878 km-long pipeline to send Russian natural gas across the Black Sea to Turkey and further on to Europe. The gas main will consist of two lines of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. The first line will supply "blue fuel" to consumers in Turkey, meeting up to 35% of the country's consumption needs, and the second line is intended to supply Russian gas to south and south-eastern Europe.
The project was designed as a replacement for the South Stream pipeline, which was canceled in 2014 after years of planning and even the construction of some sections of the line. South Stream was a collaboration with European Union countries, and Putin blamed Brussels for the project's failure.
“Countries’ decisions as to how to obtain natural gas in accordance with their own circumstances must be respected. Pressure, which will violate states’ sovereign rights and prevent them from serving their citizens, will benefit no one,” said Erdoğan. He continued, "I believe our solidarity with Putin and the Russian people will be foreshadowing of bigger projects...Turkish Stream is a project of historic proportions for our bilateral relations and for energy geopolitics in our region, on which we have exerted great efforts with our Russian friends."
Gazprom began construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream in May 2017 and the first section was completed in May 2018.
The current schedule has the gas pipeline operational by the end of 2019.
By Samantha Guthrie
Photo: Gazprom
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