Baku, Azerbaijan, May 15
By Jamilya Aliyeva - Trend:
Implementation of the Turkish Stream project depends on how much consumer markets in Europe will change, Alexander Rahr, a well-known German political scientist and analyst told Trend May 15.
The global issue is how much gas will be necessary for the European market, he said.
The kind of pipelines which will be built in the future and their quantity will depend on this fact, he said.
"The competition between pipelines has arisen on the market," he said. "There are new possibilities - liquefied gas, which is imported from the United States, and it may also influence the situation. However, as Europe will be unable to produce its own gas before 15-20 years, it needs to increase the share of imported gas by 50-60 percent. From this perspective, all the pipelines from the east of Europe will be relevant to it."
Rahr said that it is likely that all of the gas produced in Turkmenistan will be imported to China.
"I'm not sure that Iran will be able to sell its gas to Europe," said Rahr. "Tehran can sell it to China."
Political analyst also said that the North and Central Europe are provided with gas through the "Nord Stream", Belarus, Poland and Ukraine.'
"In the countries of southern Europe, economy is growing, the needs are increasing," he said. "Therefore, the Turkish Stream is important to them. They rely on it, and, of course, there is not enough gas now for southern Europe."
Rahr said that the Turkish Stream project is important for Turkey. Ankara is becoming a major center for the dissemination of the Russian, Azerbaijani, Iranian, Iraqi gas, and Turkey will advocate for this project, the analyst said.
"All the rest is a matter of price and political agreement," he said. "Now, when the situation in Ukraine improves, it will be possible to go back to talks about the energy alliance and project implementation."
The Turkish Stream project envisages gas supply from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea.
Gazprom and Turkey's BOTAS signed a memorandum of understanding on December 1, 2014 on construction of the gas pipeline.
The pumping capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 63 billion cubic meters of gas.
The gas pipeline with the length of around 1,100 kilometers will consist of four branches and bring up to 47 billion cubic meters of gas to the Turkish-Greek border.
It is expected to create a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border, while EU countries should independently create gas transport facilities to further receive this gas on their territories.
Edited by CN