Greece in talks with EU to extend TurkStream gas pipeline: Greek PM Tsipras

ATHENS

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (R) shakes hands with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras during a meeting outside Moscow on Dec. 7. (Photo by Yekaterina SHTUKINA / SPUTNIK / AFP)

Greece is conducting dialogue with the EU on the extension of the TurkStream, a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkey, across Greek territory to other EU countries, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in an interview with Russian news agency TASS on Dec. 6.

Tsipras said Athens and other European countries are convinced that the EU has to move to cooperation with Russia on the TurkStream pipeline, which, according to Greece, should become not only TurkStream, but “EuroStream” as well as part of the multifaceted policy in the energy sphere.

“We are negotiating [it] in the European Union. I believe that our arguments are strong. We have persistence and patience, and I believe that we will possibly have positive results in the future,” the prime minister said.

Gazprom began the construction of the offshore section of the TurkStream in May 2017. The project envisages the construction of two pipelines, each 939 kilometers long.

The first line will be designed for the Turkish market and will meet 35 percent of Turkey’s natural gas consumption alone. The second is for gas supply to countries in southern and southeastern 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.

The launch of the second branch of the TurkStream to deliver gas to southern and southeast Europe was scheduled for 2019. In November, Tsipras stated that Greece is actively agitating for this gas pipeline to pass through Greek territory to Europe.