Russia gives coordinates for new pipeline to Turkey: Minister

ANKARA

Reuters Photo

Russia’s Gazprom gave Turkey the necessary coordinates for the planned Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has told reporters. 

“We took the necessary coordinates from Gazprom last week. Now, preliminary permissions are needed for the pipeline’s feasibility report … There could be developments on the issue this week,” Yıldız said on June 15, while discussing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the weekend, as quoted by Reuters. 

Yıldız had said last week that Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expected to get the coordinate details from the Russian company and if these details are completed by the end of June, then both sides will talk about the final details.

“All of the permission that we’ll grant or the negotiations that we’ll hold will be about the construction of one pipeline,” he said on June 15. 

“Mr. Putin and our President Erdoğan agreed this,” he added. 

Putin met Erdoğan on June 13 for talks on energy issues and the Syria crisis, Russian news agencies reported.

The two leaders met a day after attending the opening ceremony in Baku of the inaugural European Games, hosted by Azerbaijan. 

The Kremlin spokesman said ahead of what he expected to be “very substantive talks” that the leaders could discuss the Turkish Stream pipeline to supply Russian gas to Turkey.   

Russia’s Gazprom announced on June 9 that the intergovernmental agreement for the construction of the Turkish Stream, which will transfer Russian natural gas to Europe via Turkey, would be signed at the end of this month.

Gazprom Vice Chairman Alexander Medvedev said in a press conference that the first phase of the Turkish Stream project would cost 3.3 billion euros, as quoted by several media outlets in Russia. 

The planned annual capacity of the pipeline is 63 billion cubic meters of gas. The pipeline is due to become operational in December 2016, according to Gazprom.