The Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Director General of Gazprom export Alexandr Medvedev is planning to carry out negotiations with Turkey before the end of the year discussing among other issues the destiny of the South Stream gas pipeline.
“I traditionally pay visits to all the countries we work with twice a year, this year I have been to Turkey only once which means that I am going there before the end of the year”, — he told the journalists answering the question of when Turkey can give the permission for the South Stream installation”.
Medvedev noted that some information on this issue might be publicized after the negotiations.
The South Stream project presupposes the construction of a gas pipeline though the Black Sea from Russia to the countries of the South and Central Europe. Supposedly it will consist of four lines of 15.57 billion cubic meters each, the first is to be commissioned in December 2015, the full capacity operation (63 billion cubic meters) is expected by 2018. The start of the construction is scheduled for 2013. The estimated cost of the South Stream comprises 15.5 billion euro, of which 10 billion are allocated for the sea part of the pipeline, and 5.5 billion – for the overland part.
The South Stream project is being executed with the aim of diversifying the routes of the natural gas deliveries to the European consumers. The intergovernmental agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria have been signed in order to ensure the execution of the overland part of the project.
However, Turkey have been postponing issuing the permission for gas pipeline installation in its commercial waters. On October 10 the prime-minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin discussed the issue of the South Stream pipeline construction with the prime-minister of Turkey Recep Erdoğan but there has not been a final decision on this matter so far. The prime-ministers agreed to finalize the further schedule of personal meetings through the diplomatic channels.
Метки: Gazprom, Gazprom Export, oil deliveries, oil pipeline, South Stream
