Turkey Approves Environmental Report on Shelf Area of Turkish Pipeline

The report on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the offshore section of the Turkish gas pipeline has been approved by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Development of Turkey.

“The Commission studied and evaluated the EIA report, which was submitted to our Ministry for the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. Our ministry has made a positive decision,” the Ministry stated on its website.

The construction of the shelf section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline was started by Russian Gazprom in May. The gas main will consist of two lines, the capacity of each being 15.75 billion cubic meters. The first thread, the construction of which is still actively implemented, will send gas to consumers in Turkey and is expected to be put into operation in March 2018. The second line is intended to supply Russian "blue fuel" to the countries of South and South-Eastern Europe and is set to open in 2019.

Earlier it was reported that Gazprom was considering allocating additional funds for the implementation of the Turkish Stream project to the amount of approximately 50 billion Rubles, pending approval by the company's management of the draft investment program for 2017. Meanwhile, at the beginning of 2017, Gazprom said that the holding planned to allocate 41.92 billion Rubles for the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

“Turkey attaches great importance to the implementation of the Turkish Stream project, since this pipeline will become the key in the region and will affect all segments of the regional energy sector,” the head of the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Berat Albayrak, said. “Today, Turkey is a world record holder in terms of growth in energy consumption, which requires a corresponding increase in investment”.

Dimitri Dolaberidze