Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 31
By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend:
Construction of a gas pipeline that will connect three countries - Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and will become a new route of gas exports to Europe, is theoretically possible, but will require big investments, Alexander Sotnichenko, associate professor at the St. Petersburg State University, a turkologist, PhD in history, told Trend Oct. 31.
He was commenting on the fact that the leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus declared their readiness to implement the new construction project of a gas pipeline connecting these countries.
Sotnichenko said that several billion US dollars will be needed for the construction of a gas pipeline along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea from Israel to Greece, and, if implemented, the new pipeline can become competitive for the Turkish Stream project.
Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement October 10 on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.
The agreement involves construction of two branches of the main gas pipeline under the Black Sea, the power of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas.
One branch is provided to supply gas directly to the Turkish market, 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.
Sotnichenko said it is impossible to confront the implementation of the project through diplomatic means, especially given the fact that there are no issues from the point of view of international law that could hinder the project’s implementation, and, of course, the project is beneficial for the EU, because it will become an alternative source of gas supply.
“Early completion of the construction and launch of the Turkish Stream project, as well as ensuring of uninterrupted gas supplies to Europe under the tariffs below the Israeli ones may become the only advantage of the Russian-Turkish project,” the Russian expert said.
Sotnichenko also noted that Israel is quite capable to finance the project on its own, in addition, the US can support construction of the gas pipeline.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum