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Russia’s planned projects for gas supply to Europe associated with risks

Oil&Gas Materials 12 October 2015 20:07 (UTC +04:00)
Russia’s planned projects for gas supply to Europe.
Russia’s planned projects for gas supply to Europe associated with risks

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 12

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

Russia's planned projects for gas supply to Europe, namely, Turkish Stream and Nord Stream 2 are associated with political risks, Vladimir Likhachev, the deputy director of the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said.

"At present, Russia is interested in the pipelines bypassing Ukraine," he told Trend Oct. 12.
"In this regard, Russia has two options - to build the Turkish Stream and reach an agreement with Turkey, as well determine the side which will build the pipeline to Europe, and the construction of the second stage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline," he said.

He said that theoretically it is possible to implement these two projects at the same time.

"But at present, this is such a stage when these projects are associated for Russia with the same risks of political misunderstandings," he said. "In case of the Turkish Stream, there is the risk of a lack of understanding with Turkey, but in case of "Nord Stream 2 - with the Baltic countries and Germany."

The Turkish Stream project includes the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea. It was assumed that the gas pipeline would consist of four branches at 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas each.

The gas of the first branch is completely designed for the Turkish market. The rest amount will be supplied to the Turkish-Greek border, where it is planned to create a gas hub.

It was reported in early August 2015 that Gazprom has revised the plans to build the Turkish Stream and will refuse from the third and fourth branches of the gas pipeline. The reason was a lack of a key agreement on granting Ankara a discount on Russian gas.

Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Gazprom board, told reporters recently that the commissioning of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, initially scheduled for late 2016, is postponed to a later date.

In early September, Russian Gazprom signed an agreement with the shareholders of the joint project company (New European Pipeline AG), which will deal with the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

The shareholders will include Russian Gazprom (with a share of 51 percent), German E.On (10 percent), Dutch-British Shell (10 percent), Austria's OMV (10 percent), German BASF/Wintershall (10 percent) and French Engie (9 percent). The project envisages the construction of two gas pipeline lines from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea with a total annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas.

Edited by CN

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Aygun Badalova is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AygunBadalova

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