Russia’s gas transportation infrastructure for gas supply to the marine gas pipeline is ready, the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller said at the meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the intergovernmental agreement, Russia will construct two pipes under the Black Sea to Turkey with capacity totaling 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas, pursuant to the intergovernmental agreement. "According to the schedule, both pipes will be ready by end-2019," he said.
The head of Gazprom added that they have already obtained permission for the section in the Turkish economic zone - in the Black Sea from the border of Turkish and Bulgarian economic zones towards Turkey for 250-kilometer distance, for surveys.
Ankara, in turn, the permits granted earlier for the South Stream project, will be valid for the Turkish Stream as well.
As senior analyst of Uralsib Alexei Kokin noted in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, the implementation of the Turkish Stream project will allow Gazprom to transport additional volumes to the Turkish market and after some time will help to redirect some volumes from Trans-Balkan route, where Ukraine is a transit country.
However, he expressed doubt that Europe will be interested in Russian gas supplies via Turkey. "Gazprom has pretty weak position. It will be really difficult to negotiate in conditions of strong competition with Norway and liquefied gas, which gets cheaper," the expert believes.
Sberbank CIB analyst Valery Nesterov told Vestnik Kavkaza in an interview that it is very important for Russia to reserve the Turkish market - one of the few gas markets with high growth and competition between those who want to sell gas. "For Russia, it will be the second-largest market after Germany. Of course, we cannot forget about the payback of the project, which will depend on the volume of deliveries and on the gas prices," the expert said.
Speaking about the project relevance, he noted that "gas supplies to Turkey will become more stable and will not depend on the vicissitudes of our relations with Ukraine". "Of course, some analysts believe that the Turkish Stream project refers to those which are carried out in order to achieve energy and political goals, and is connected with Russia's unwillingness to pump gas through Ukraine. But, on the other hand, it is also linked with a healthy desire to improve energy security and reliability of Russian gas supplies, in this case, to Turkey," Valery Nesterov concluded.
