Gazprom creates new company to build pipeline to Turkey

Russia's energy giant Gazprom is setting up a new company, Gazprom Russkaya, which will be tasked with the building of a new pipeline to Turkey, Gazprom Spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Monday.

"Gazprom is establishing a company to build a new gas pipeline to Turkey. The company will be registered in Saint Petersburg. Corresponding procedures have begun today. The enterprise is called Gazprom Russkaya, based on the name of the main compressor station Russkaya," Kupriyanov said.

On 1 December, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced the construction of a new pipeline to Turkey with a capacity of 63 billion m³/yr of gas. A total of 14 billion m³ will be supplied to Turkey, with the rest being pumped to a hub on the Turkish-Greece border for customers in Southern Europe.

The announcement was made the same day as Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was not willing to continue the implementation of South Stream pipeline project, designed to go under the Black Sea from Russia to Europe, in light of the European Commission's “non-constructive" stance on the matter.

Russia is ready to build another pipeline transportation system to meet Turkey’s economic needs and create a gas hub, Putin told a news conference held after his talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. “In view of Turkey’s growing needs we are not only ready to expand the Blue Stream but can build another pipeline transportation system to help Turkey meet its growing /gas/ needs. If this idea is considered to be expedient, we can create an additional gas hub for consumers in southern Europe in the Turkish territory on the border with Greece,” Putin said, adding that it was “quite a realisable project.”

Miller explained that the would-be gas pipeline to Turkey would use the same entry station as under the South Stream project - the Russkaya compressor station.

During Putin’s visit to Ankara in December, Russia’s Gazprom and Turkey’s Botas signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a seabed section of the pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Sputnik News, Itar Tass

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/09122014/gazprom-creates-new-company-to-build-pipeline-to-turkey/