Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.9 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
The last agreement in the energy sphere signed between Russia and Turkey will not affect the implementation of Nabucco project, on the contrary, will facilitate it, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz told journalists on Monday, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
"All the statements that implementation of Nabucco project will slow down after the signing the agreement on the South Stream, are wrong," Yildiz said.
He said that these projects will contribute to the economic development of Turkey and all countries of the region.
Nabucco project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to the EU countries. Construction of the Nabucco project is planned to start in 2013 and the first supplies are scheduled for 2017. The total length of the pipeline is 3,900 kilometers with a maximum capacity of 31 billion cubic meters per year. The project's partners include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and the German RWE.
In December 2011, Turkey and Russia signed an agreement to start construction on the South Stream project. The South Stream project is implemented to diversify the routes of natural gas supplies to the European consumers and envisages the construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to the South and Central Europe.
The total designed capacity of the offshore section of the South Stream is 63 billion cubic meters per year. It is planned that the offshore section stretching about 900 kilometers will run through the Black Sea bottom from the "Russkaya" compressor station on the Russian coast to the Bulgarian coast. The cost of construction of the offshore section will hit approximately 15.5 billion euros.