Turkish Stream

Turkish Stream

Map of Turkish Stream
Location
Country Russia
Turkey
From Russkaya compressor station
Passes through Black Sea
To undecided
General information
Type natural gas
Partners Gazprom
Expected unknown
Technical information
Maximum discharge 63×10^9 m3/a (2.2×10^12 cu ft/a)

Turkish Stream or TurkStream (Turkish: Türk Akımı) is the working name of a planned natural gas pipeline running from Southern Russian Krasnodar Region across the Black Sea to Turkish Thrace. Announced by Russian president Vladimir Putin on 1 December 2014, during his state visit to Turkey, the proposal is supposed to replace the cancelled South Stream project.[1][2] According to Gazprom, the project did not have an official name.[3]

Prior to officially signing the agreement in October 2016, the project was temporarily halted. As part of the deal, Turkey will receive a discount on gas prices from Russia.

History

The first direct gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey was the Blue Stream, commissioned in 2005. In 2009, Putin proposed a line parallel to Blue Stream 1 under the Black Sea, from Samsun to Ceyhan, and further to Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Cyprus. The project was replaced by the South Stream project, itself abandoned in 2014.[4]

In November 2015, after the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown, Russia's Economic Development Minister stated that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project falls under the restrictive measures against Turkey. Talks on the project were unilaterally suspended by the Russian side.[5] On 5 December, 2015, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan formally terminated the Turkish Stream project, although claiming the decision was because of Russian "non-compliance" with Turkish demands surrounding the project.[6]

In late July 2016, following a reconciliation meeting in Moscow, both sides however put the project back on table.[7][8] On 10 October 2016, both parties officially signed the agreement in Istanbul, confirming commitment in the execution of the project.[9]

Technical features

The pipeline would start at the Russkaya compressor station near Anapa. The landing point in Turkey would be Kıyıköy, a village in the district of Vize in Kırklareli Province at northwestern Turkey.[10]

The planned capacity of the pipeline is 63 billion cubic metres per annum (2.2 trillion cubic feet per annum) of natural gas.[3] Turkey would take about 14 billion cubic metres per annum (490 billion cubic feet per annum), the rest of the gas was planned to be exported to Europe.[11] However, there are concerns that there is not enough capacity to transport this amount from the Greek-Turkish border further to Europe.[12] According to the European Commissioner for Energy Maroš Šefčovič the proposed pipeline exceeds demands of possible customers.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Putin:Russia Cannot Continue South Stream Construction in Current Situation". RIA Novosti. 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  2. ↑ "Russia drops South Stream gas pipeline plan". BBC News. 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  3. 1 2 "Launch date of Turkish Stream not to differ much from South Stream schedule - Gazprom". ITAR-TASS. 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
  4. ↑ Socor, Vladimir (2009-08-11). "Gazprom, Turkey Revive and Reconfigure Blue Stream Two". Eurasia Daily Monitor. The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  5. ↑ Turkish Stream Falls Under Russia's Restrictive Measures Against Turkey
  6. ↑ "Turkey has shelved Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, says President Erdoğan". Hürriyet Daily News. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "Russian, Turkish officials discuss restoring economic, trade ties". Hürriyet Daily News. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  8. ↑ Geropoulos, Kostis (29 July 2016). "Moving closer together, Putin, Erdogan push Turkish Stream". New Europe. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Turkey, Russia Sign Gas Pipeline Deal as Ties Improve". ABC News. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Gazprom agrees on 180-km land section of Turkish Stream gas pipeline between Kiyikoy, Epsila". Interfax. 2015-02-02. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Paul, Amanda (2015-01-24). "Game on for 'Turkish Stream'". Today's Zaman. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
  12. ↑ Panin, Alexander (2015-01-21). "Russia's New Turkish Stream Gas Strategy More Bark Than Bite". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
  13. ↑ Panin, Alexander (2015-01-23). "EU Energy Chief Says Russia's Turkish Stream Gas Project Won't Work". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.