New Russia-Turkey gas pipeline route approved

OAO Gazprom reported selection of a route for a gas pipeline across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey.

Some 660 km of the pipeline will be laid within a corridor designed for the cancelled South Stream pipeline (OGJ Online, Dec. 2, 2014). Another 250 km will be in a new corridor toward the European part of Turkey.

The approval came during a Jan. 27 working meeting in Ankara involving Alexey Miller, chairman of the Gazprom management committee, and Taner Yildiz, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

Four strings of pipeline will have a total capacity of 63 billion cu m (bcm)/year. The first string’s capacity of 15.75 bcm/year will be “exclusively intended for Turkish consumers,” Gazprom said. First gas is planned for yearend 2016.

Priorities for the project include determining the location of landfall facilities, gas delivery points for Turkish consumers, and border crossings between Turkey and Greece.

Gazprom will be responsible for construction of the offshore section. Turkish gas transportation facilities will be built jointly by Gazprom and Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corp., which is approved to represent Turkey.