With South Stream dropped, Russia turns to Turkey

After Russia’s president Vladimir Putin announced yesterday that Russia would drop the South Stream project due to the strained relations with the European Union, he said that Russia would turn to other markets.

The statement came during Putin’s visit in Turkey, where he said that Russia would build a second gas supply line toward Turkey. This would be an addition to the existing Blue Stream pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Turkey.

Putin said: “We supply not only gas, but significant volumes of oil and petroleum products as well. We have reached an agreement on the expansion by Gazprom of the Blue Stream pipeline’s capacity to meet the growing energy demands of the Turkish economy. Following our Turkish friends’ request, we will soon increase supplies to the Turkish market by another 3 billion cubic metres.”

“But given Turkey’s growing demand, we are ready to not only expand the Blue Stream pipeline, as I just said, but also build another pipeline system in order to cover the growing needs of the Turkish economy. And if it is deemed expedient, we can build an additional gas hub for the South European consumers on Turkish territory, near the border with Greece.”

Deal for new pipeline

During the visit, Alexey Miller, CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom and Mehmet Konuk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation signed in Ankara a Memorandum of Understanding under which the new offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey would be constructed.

 Related: Putin on South Stream: Europe doesn’t want it, we won’t build it

The new natural gas pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, with 14 billion cubic meters slated for Turkish consumers (identical amount is being delivered via the Balkan Corridor) and nearly 50 billion cubic meters conveyed to the border between Turkey and Greece, where a delivery point will be arranged.

The Russkaya compressor station, under construction in the Krasnodar Territory, will serve as the pipeline starting point.

 Map by Gazprom showing the proposed route for the South Stream Pipeline and Blue Stream pipeline