Gazprom inks contract for Turkish Stream’s second line
By Nigar Abbasova
South Stream Transport B.V., 100-percent subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom Company, has signed a contract with Swiss Allseas Group on constructing the second line of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline’s offshore segment.
The signing of the contract became an additional indication that the project can be realized.
The Turkish Stream project envisages construction of a natural gas pipeline via the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey to be further extended to the border with Greece. The first line means to supply gas directly to the Turkish market and the other for the supply of gas by transit through Turkey to Europe. These two offshore branches are planned to be built by December 2019, while the capacity of each section stands at 15.75 bcm of gas.
However, the opinions on the possibility of the implementation of the second branch are controversial due a to a number of uncertainties including the position of the European Commission, as well as doubts over the ability of the sides to reach consent over gas price.
On December 8, 2016, the Company signed an agreement with Allseas Group S.A. on construction of the first line of Turkish Stream pipeline’s offshore section. Under the contract, Allseas should lay over 900 kilometers of pipes along the seabed. The work is scheduled to start in the second half of 2017.
Moscow and Ankara signed an intergovernmental agreement in October 2016 envisioning the construction of two underwater legs of the gas pipeline in the Black Sea. Both sides have already ratified the deal.
The project, with an estimated total cost of $13 billion, was announced in December 2014 during Putin’s visit to Turkey as an alternative to the canceled South Stream gas pipeline through Bulgaria.
Being the second biggest consumer of Russian gas after Germany, Turkey currently imports around 30 billion cubic meters gas from Russia annually via two pipelines - the Blue Stream, which passes under the eastern Black Sea, and the Western Line through the Balkans.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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