Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Russian gas supplies to Turkey are not an alternative to Azerbaijani gas to be transported through the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), TRT Haber TV channel quoted Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz as saying Dec. 11.
He said that the EU countries repeatedly expressed their concern that the construction of a new gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey may affect the implementation of the TANAP project.
"But this will not affect the TANAP project," Yildiz said.
The minister said that Turkey is a participant of the TANAP project. Its implementation will start soon.
During the negotiations in Turkey last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that under the current conditions, as well as due to the EU unconstructive position, Russia can't continue the implementation of the South Stream project. Later, CEO of Russia's Gazprom's Alexey Miller said that the South Stream project has been shut down.
Earlier, Gazprom and Turkey's BOTAS state pipeline company signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of an offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey with the annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Under this agreement, it is planned to supply 14 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey and the remaining part - nearly 50 billion cubic meters of gas - to the Turkish-Greek border.
Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Kirill Molodtcov said December 11 that the design of the underwater section of the gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey may take a year or a year and a half.
The negotiations on the construction of a new gas pipeline between Turkey and Russia may start in 2019-2020, respectively.
Russia is the main supplier of natural gas to Turkey. Around 26.7 billion cubic meters of gas was supplied to Turkey from Russia in 2013 and it is planned to increase this figure to 30 billion cubic meters in 2014.
On Nov.19, Turkey and Algeria signed a new contract for the period of ten years on supply of gas from Algeria. Turkey also has contracts with Azerbaijan, Iran and Nigeria on the purchase of natural gas.
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Emil Ismayilov is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @Emilsmail
Edited by CN