Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.3
By Leman Zeynalova- Trend:
The Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization announced the final approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the offshore section of the TurkStream Offshore Gas Pipeline.
A thorough consultation process resulted in the final EIA.
After publishing the draft EIA on 21 June, the Turkish government established a Review and Evaluation Commission (REC), consisting of 23 relevant institutions and authorities.
On 4 July, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization organized a meeting with the REC members in order to ask questions and provide feedback on the draft EIA.
Subsequently, the REC members submitted their opinions on the draft EIA in writing. The EIA has been amended in line with these opinions. All REC members have now provided a positive opinion on the EIA to the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization.
The EIA consists of information on the potential environmental and social impacts of the offshore section of the TurkStream project. It also includes recommendations for the mitigation of the potential adverse impacts and enhancement of the beneficial ones.
In preparation of the EIA, field surveys were conducted to identify, assess and document potential environmental and social impacts of project activities. As part of the assessment, various Turkish stakeholders, including government experts, local community representatives and fishing groups, were consulted.
The EIA was prepared and submitted by ELC Group Inc. on behalf of South Stream Transport B.V., the project owner of the offshore section of the TurkStream Project.
TurkStream project 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 between Russia and Turkey also stipulates that these two offshore branches should be built by December 2019.
On Dec.8, 2016, South Stream Transport B.V., 100-percent subsidiary of Gazprom, signed a contract with Swiss Allseas Group on constructing the first line of the TurkStream gas pipeline’s offshore segment.
Later in February 2017, the two companies inked an agreement on constructing the second line of the pipeline’s offshore section.
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