Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.12
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The future of the second line of the Turkish Stream pipeline depends on several factors, many of which are related to Nord Stream 2, Director of Hydrocarbons, France, Mediterranean Energy Observatory (OME), Sohbet Karbuz told Trend Dec.12.
So far, only the first line of the Turkish Stream is sure to be constructed and there is no firm agreement yet on the second line, said the expert.
“First, Russia has not yet given up on the Nord Stream 2. Let me give a very recent example why. On the day when Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Ukrainian counterpart Ihor Nasalyk were holding discussions brokered by the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic on winter gas transits to Europe via Ukraine, the Russian Prime Minister office twitted an interesting message. The twitter message reads ‘The Nord Stream 2 project benefits all participants. We expect it to be as successful as Nord Stream-1.’,” added Karbuz.
Second, the expert recalled that on October 28, the European Commission decided to permit Russia’s Gazprom company to use a greater capacity of the Opal pipeline.
“This would allow Gazprom, to reduce the transit flows in the Yamal pipeline in Poland and the gas transit system of Ukraine,” said Karbuz.
Third, the expert believes that Russia is likely to wait for the rulings of the international arbitration court in Stockholm over the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz on terms of gas purchases and transit.
Fourth, Russia will also wait for the ruling of the European Commission’s ongoing anti-trust case against Gazprom for abuse with dominant position and overpricing, he said.
Fifth, the expert said that besides the issues regarding how the Turkish Stream may comply with the EU rules, the commercial aspects of the second line has not yet been determined.
Further, Karbuz said that for Europe, these two projects can be considered as rivals, but for Russia they can be complimentary, at least from a geostrategic point of view, if not commercial.
Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement October 10 on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.
The agreement envisages construction of two branches of the main gas pipeline under the Black Sea, the capacity of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas.
One branch is meant to supply gas directly to the Turkish market and the other for the supply of gas by transit through Turkey to Europe. The intergovernmental agreement also stipulates that these two offshore branches should be built by December 2019.
South Stream Transport B.V. company, a 100-percent subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom company signed an agreement with Switzerland’s Allseas Group S.A. Dec.8 on construction of the first line of Turkish Stream pipeline’s offshore section.
Under the contract, Allseas should lay over 900 kilometers of pipes along the seabed.
Allseas will start laying the first line of the pipeline in the second half of 2017.
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