Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.18
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The European Union (EU) hasn’t been informed about any plans to extend the Turkish Stream pipeline towards EU countries, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said in an interview with Trend.
“For the time being, we have not been approached and informed about any plans to extend the so-called Turkish Stream pipeline, bringing Russian gas to Turkey, towards the European Union, so I do not want to speculate,” said the EU commissioner.
He pointed out that as a matter of principle and as part of the efforts to create a resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate policy, increasing security, solidarity and trust by diversifying Europe's energy suppliers and routes is central for improving competition and driving down prices for EU consumers.
“All pipelines projects are carefully evaluated and are to be in line with these principles and legislation,” added Sefcovic.
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 Turkish Stream 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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