Second Thread of Turkish Stream Depends on EC Guarantee

The second thread of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline will be built only if solid guarantees are received from the European Commission (EC). Russia has said it is ready to discuss additional ways of laying the gas pipeline, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced.

The Turkish Stream can be extended to Europe, though at present only the first thread, directly for Turkish consumers, is under construction. “The second will be built only if we get reinforced concrete guarantees from the European Commission that it will not throw out the same number it did with the South Stream in respect of Bulgaria, which is now ready to consider taking the second thread of the Turkish Stream,” Lavrov said. “We are ready for any option. But only an option that is 100% guaranteed by the European Commission.”

By January 4, Gazprom had laid almost 700 km (38%) of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline on two strings. Gazprom started the construction of the underwater section of the Turkish Stream on May 7, 2017. The project envisages laying two strings of a gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey along the bottom of the Black Sea. The power of each of the threads of "Turkish flow" will be 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Serbia could also become an important transit country for Russian gas when it connects to the Turkish gas pipeline project, President Vladimir Putin stated earlier.

Dimitri Dolaberidze