Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 12
Trend:
Gas price discount for Turkey may be coordinated with supply of additional 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year via the Trans-Balkan pipeline, RIA Novosti reported citing the Kommersant newspaper.
Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream pipeline project on Oct. 10.
As Russia’s President Vladimir Putin earlier noted, during the discussions on the project it was agreed to offer gas supply discounts.
In an interview to Russia 24 TV channel, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller said the discount on the Russian gas for the Turkish state-owned company Botas will be linked to “the volume of Russian gas supplies to the Turkish market”, however, he noted that the current pricing is already “very competitive.”
At the moment, Turkey’s annual Gazprom gas volume via the Trans-Balkan pipeline is 2 billion cubic meters for BOTAS and 10 billion cubic meters for private importers, and 16 billion cubic meters for BOTAS via Blue Stream across the Black Sea.
Kommersant says that in 2015, the gas export hit 27 billion cubic meters, which is almost the full contract volume.
As suggested by Kommersant’s sources, this may be due to additional supplies via the Trans-Balkan pipeline as part of the contract between BOTAS and Gazprom.
The additional supply of 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year is being discussed, according to the newspaper.
Such supplies can reduce Gazprom’s losses from discounts, but only partially, the newspaper noted.