Turkey gives Russia permission to work on South Stream

The head of the department of foreign trade activities of "Gazprom", Pavel Oderov, said that the company had received permission from Turkey to conduct marine surveys as part of the South Stream pipeline project, Kommersant reports.

Earlier, on March 23, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia will provide Turkey with additional documentation on the South Stream project in the next few months and expects a positive decision from Ankara about laying the offshore portion of the pipeline in its economic zone.

The South Stream is a Russian-French-Italian gas pipeline project, which will run under the Black Sea from Novorossiysk to the Bulgarian port of Varna, from where it will stretch to Southern and Central Europe.

The South Stream project is aimed at diversifying delivery routes of Russian gas to Europe and reducing dependence on suppliers and customers of the transit countries, particularly of Ukraine and Turkey. South Stream is considered a rival to Nabucco, which will deliver gas to Europe to the south of Russia and which is supported by the EU and the US.