Baku, Azerbaijan, June 2
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
It is premature to talk about granting any financial aid to Greece by Russia for the construction of the Greek part of the Turkish Stream, said Sergei Agibalov, the sector director in the economic department of the Institute for Energy and Finance.
"This issue needs serious examination," Agibalov told Trend June 2. "It is too early to talk about giving a loan to Greece while the continental part of the project faces many difficulties."
He went on to add that one can talk about financial aid only after reaching agreements with all countries.
Agibalov said that the European Commission does not hail the implementation of the Turkish Stream project the same way as it did not support the South Stream project.
The issue of Russian gas supplies to Turkey, in particular the question of prices, remains unresolved, according to Agibalov. However, the expert believes that the parties will manage to reach a compromise on this issue in the foreseeable future.
"The project is of interest for both Russia and Turkey," said the expert. There are disagreements, some political issues, but the sides will reach a compromise in the foreseeable future and following this, the project can enter the active phase, he added.
It is highly likely that Greece won't be able to attract Russian funds for the pipeline running through the country's territory and aiming to get Russian gas from Turkish Stream, Interfax agency earlier reported citing Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak.
He said that in terms of the program that is being implemented by Greece with the IMF, it likely has restrictions for the sovereign borrowing and the country can't attract it.
It has the largest creditor - EU, and accordingly, this creditor has for sure imposed barriers (on receiving foreign borrowings), he added.
Turkish Stream envisages transportation of gas from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea. Russia's Gazprom company and Turkish BOTAS signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of the pipeline on December 1, 2014.
The pipeline's pumping capacity will be 63 billion cubic meters.
The 1,100 kilometer-gas pipeline will consist of four branches and supply 47 billion cubic meters of gas to the Turkish-Greek border.
A gas hub is expected to be created on the border between Turkey and Greece.
The EU countries must independently create their own gas transportation facilities to receive this gas in their territories.
Edited by CN
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