Russia's President Vladimir Putin will take a one-day working visit to Turkey today, timed to the completion of construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. The Kremlin press service reported that Putin together with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will participate in the ceremony in Istanbul in the form of a video conference.
There will also be a meeting between the two presidents, during which issues of further development of Russian-Turkish relations and current regional and international problems will be discussed. According to the Turkish media, they may discuss Turkey's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defence systems, as well as the situation in Syria's Idlib.
Gazprom has begun construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream in May 2017. The offshore section of the 930 km pipeline runs along the bottom of the Black Sea to the coast of Turkey. The pipeline will be continues by a 180-km land transit line to the border of Turkey with neighboring countries.
The first line will be designed for the Turkish market, the second - for gas supply to the countries of South and Southeast Europe. The capacity of each line is 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The first deliveries are scheduled for the end of 2019. Gazprom announced the completion of deep-sea laying of the offshore section of the first Turkish Stream in April 2018.
Political scientist Orhan Gafarli, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, said that the completion of the Turkish Stream's offshore section is a major event for Ankara. "The thing is that the Turkish Stream is of strategic importance for Turkey, as we strive to become a hub for Eastern, Western and Central Europe. It is important to view the Turkish Stream from two aspects - as meeting domestic needs and transit of gas to Europe. First of all, we, of course, need to guarantee our own energy security, the demand for gas in Turkey is constantly growing, and the Turkish Stream will produce gas even after the pipeline through Ukraine closes. The second line of the gas pipeline will go to Europe through Greece or Bulgaria and will allow Turkey to strengthen its position of the energy hub country, providing Europe with hydrocarbons," he said.
In addition, Gafarli drew attention to the political significance of this event. "The completion of the pipeline's offshore part and the presence of the presidents at the ceremony show the extent of how much the relations between Turkey and Russia are improving, as well as how important these relations are for the leaders of both countries," the political scientist emphasized.
A senior analyst of 'Uralsib', Alexei Kokin, in turn, noted that the completion of the Turkish Stream's offshore section is just the first step towards halting Russian gas transit via Ukraine. "So far, we are talking only about those parts serving the Turkish market. There are plans to bring this gas to the European market, but it’s yet too early to talk about it. Strategically, the second, third and fourth pipeline lines should go to Europe and play a role in stopping transit, but much work has yet to be done in concluding contracts with consumers. The pipeline is not built until contracts are concluded and Gazprom has to solve this major task," Alexei Kokin concluded.
