Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller: Ankara and Moscow have started work on a gas hub in Turkey
Ankara and Moscow started practical implementation of the project of gas hub in Turkey, said the head of “Gazprom” Alexey Miller at the pre-New Year conference call.
“Now we and Turkey have started working on the gas hub project in this country. This decision was made at the level of the leaders of the two countries, and we have already started its practical implementation,” said Miller.
According to him, the gas hub will help ensure transparent and fair pricing in the natural gas market.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on October 12 to create in Turkey “a major gas hub” for supplies to Europe. He proposed to reroute the fuel previously supplied to the EU via the Nord Stream pipeline through Turkey.
Russia supplies gas to Turkey via two pipelines that run under the Black Sea. The “Blue Stream” (capacity – 16 billion cubic meters per year) supplies gas only to the Turkish market. Half of the capacity of the second pipeline, Turkish Stream, is used to supply gas to the countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe (15.75bn cubic meters out of 31.5bn cubic meters).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported Putin’s initiative. The parties instructed relevant agencies to begin working on this issue, he said. Erdogan said that Thrace (northwestern part of Turkey, where Istanbul is located) would be a suitable place for construction of the gas hub.
