Russia needs legal guarantees to extend Turkish Stream gas pipeline to EU soil

MOSCOW/ISTANBUL

Russia will be ready to start work on extending the Turkish Stream gas pipeline to the territory of the European Union only after it gets legal guarantees from the EU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Oct. 31.

“The extension of the second stretch of the Turkish Stream to the territory of the European Union could meet the growing requirements of South and South-Eastern European countries,” Russia’s top diplomat said at a meeting with members of the European Business Association, as reported by TASS.

“We see considerable interest displayed by a whole number of governments in the EU countries in this,” Lavrov added.

“However, considering the unsuccessful experience with the South Stream [gas pipeline], we will be ready to start such work under the Turkish Stream project to extend it to the EU territory, only after we get firm legal guarantees from Brussels,” Russia’s top diplomat stressed.

Meanwhile, the project managers announced in a meeting in Istanbul on Oct. 31 that first gas would be pumped in 2019 from Turkish Stream to Turkey, while adding that negotiations for the route for a second section to Europe still continue.

The Turkish Stream project envisages building a gas pipeline along the seabed of the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey and farther on to the border with Greece.

The pipeline’s offshore section is expected to equal about 910 km and its overland segment across Turkey will stretch over a distance of 180 km.