Russia’s Gazprom, Allseas Group sign Turkish Stream contract

MOSCOW

AP photo

Russia’s Gazprom said on Dec. 8 it had signed a contract with Switzerland’s Allseas Group S.A. to build the first stage of the Turkish Stream pipeline, as reported by Reuters. 

Gazprom said this week work on the underwater section of the Turkish Stream pipeline would get underway in the second half of next year.

Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, which was signed on Oct. 10 between Turkey and Russia, would soon be ratified in Russia too, in a joint press meeting with his Turkish counterpart Binali Yıldırım in Moscow on Dec. 6. 

The statement came hours after the Turkish Stream agreement entered into force in Turkey when it was published in the Official Gazette on Dec. 6, after being passed in parliament and approved by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Gazprom for years had pushed its South Stream gas link project to allow it to ship gas directly to southern Europe while circumventing Ukraine. But it had to scrap the South Stream project because of an opposition from Brussels.