Taps and alliances in an era of hard pipeline diplomacy - KATHIMERINI

18.JAN.2020 : 14:02
Stavros Tzimas

Amid growing turmoil over energy issues in the Eastern Mediterranean, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the TurkStream pipeline in Istanbul earlier this month.

The operation of TurkStream, which will carry Russian natural gas to Central Europe through Turkey, will go some way toward fulfilling Moscow’s goal of reducing gas transit via Ukraine. With the pipeline starting in Novorossiysk, crossing the Black Sea and ending at Kiyikoy in northwestern Turkey, Russia achieves its aim of bypassing Ukraine – with which relations have long been troubled – while Turkey gets to reinforce its role as the controller of the pipeline taps that bring gas to the West.

The pipeline is seen supplying the Turkish market and branching out through Bulgaria and Serbia to send gas to Central Europe. That is why the leaders of the two Balkan countries, Boyko Borisov and Aleksandar Vucic respectively, were present at the event in Istanbul.

Serbia ready to begin construction of its TurkStream section — Srbijagas - TASS

February 08, 6:27 UTC+3

BELGRADE, February 8. /TASS/. The Serbian side is ready to begin the construction of its section of the TurkStream gas pipeine to run from the Bulgarian to the Hungarian border, national gas company Srbijagas has said.

"Serbia is ready for the construction of this project, the first 300 million euro have already been secured, the construction is to begin in late March or early April. The construction is to be completed by December 15," Srbijagas Director General Dusan Bajatovic said at a session of the parliamentary Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy on Thursday.

The official added that "there should be no obstacles" on behalf of the Energy Community, an international organization established between the European Union and a number of third countries to extend the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond.

Earlier, the Energy Community’s secretariat has expressed its opinion on the project, which Serbia deemed favorable. This opinion should serve as a basis for a permission from Serbia’s energy authority. After that, the construction can begin.

Putin says TurkStream Gas Pipeline Could be Extended via Greece - ASIAN OIL & GAS

Friday, 07 December 2018 04:19

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the TurkStream gas pipeline could be extended further into Europe via Greece, as he met Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Moscow.

The first line of TurkStream, which runs from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea bed, is intended for Turkish consumption only. Russia has said that a second line will also end in Turkey and Europe must choose the route and build the extension itself.

Several routes, including via Greece and Bulgaria, are under consideration.

"We are ready for implementation of large-scale infrastructure energy projects jointly with Greece. This is also about connecting southern Europe to TurkStream via Greece," Putin said at a joint briefing with Tsipras in Moscow.

Gazprom is building TurkStream to bypass Ukraine, the key route used to ship Russian gas to Europe, amid political tension.

Its two lines will each have a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres of gas per year, with the first due to be operational by the end of 2019. 

Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Polya Ivanova; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

TurkStream: Who profits, who loses out? - DW

19.Nov.2018

Nik Martin

As Turkey and Russia inaugurate the sea section of the TurkStream gas pipeline, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can boast of Ankara's new geopolitical influence. DW asks why the pipeline is causing such a fuss.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday marked the completion of the offshore phase of TurkStream, a natural gas pipeline connecting the two countries.

Erdogan told reporters TurkStream would be ready to operate in 2019 after tests are carried out, while Putin said the pipeline would make Turkey a "major European hub." The tie-up with Moscow would "without a doubt influence the geopolitical standing of the Turkish Republic."

The new energy cooperation comes despite Moscow severing ties with Ankara three years ago after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.

Russian Gas Deliveries to Turkey Soar in September - MOSCOW TIMES / BNE INTELLINEWS

Sep 29, 2017 — 15:24
Ben Aris

Putin’s ultimate goal seems to be to win over Turkey from the West's sphere of influence

Russo-Turkish relations are back in rude health – almost. And nowhere is that clearer than in Russian gas deliveries to Turkey. They have soared in the past month.

Gazprom will set a record for natural gas deliveries to Turkey this year with deliveries having already surged 48 percent in September from a year earlier, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told reporters on Sept. 28.

"We are happy that deliveries of gas to Turkey are growing this year. Comparing the period from Jan. 1 to date with the like period of 2016, supplies to the Turkish market rose 24.3 percent," Miller was cited by the state-run news agency TASS as saying. "It means Gazprom will probably set an all-time high record of gas supplies to the market of Turkey as of 2017 year-end."

Nuclear next for Egypt - PETROLEUM ECONOMIST

6 September 2017Gerald Butt

The country's expanding energy mix is aimed at ensuring steady electricity supply, thus minimising the risk of social unrest

Egypt is going energy mad. The country is on course soon to be self-sufficient once more in natural gas, with the mega-giant Zohr offshore gasfield due onstream in December. It's also pressing ahead with a number of renewables ventures. Now, Egypt has committed itself as well to nuclear power.

Like several other Arab countries, Egypt has been toying with the idea of a nuclear project for years without a clear notion of when and if it might proceed. In November 2015, the idea began to take shape when Egypt and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement to work together on a nuclear scheme. That was the signal for the start of negotiations between the two sides. Almost two years later the documents are all ready.

Turkey’s massive gas pipeline a double-edged sword for Europe - THE IRISH TIMES

22.7.2017
Stephen Starr

The €11bn TurkStream gas project will put Turkey and Russia in a position of power

For those who saw it coming, the sight of a massive, 382-metre-long ship passing through Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait in May said a lot about Turkey’s plans to influence Europe’s access to new natural gas supplies.

The world’s largest vessel by displacement, Pioneering Spirit comes complete with offices, accommodation for 571 people and a €2.6 billion price tag. Earlier this summer it journeyed from the North Sea – where it lifted and removed an entire 24,500-tonne decommissioned oil platform, a record engineering feat – south and then east around the European continent, and through Istanbul.

Gazprom starts TurkStream 2 natural gas pipeline preparations - PLATTS

London (Platts)--20 Jul 2017 1106 am EDT/1506 GMT

Stuart Elliott, Rosemary Griffin, Siobhan Hall

Russia's Gazprom has begun carrying out preparations for the laying of the second string of the two-line TurkStream natural gas pipeline to Turkey, a company spokesman said Wednesday, but he denied a report in a Russian newspaper that pipe-laying in the Black Sea for the second string had started.

TurkStream -- whose two lines will each have a capacity of 15.75 Bcm/year -- is designed to supply the Turkish domestic market and markets in southeast Europe, bypassing the traditional transit route via Ukraine.

Hungary & Gazprom agree gas supplies via Turkish Stream pipeline - RUSSIA TODAY

5 Jul, 2017 14:53

Russian energy major Gazprom has signed an agreement with Hungary to deliver gas via the Turkish Stream pipeline, the MTI news agency reported, citing Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

He said the Turkish Stream branch to Hungary would be completed by the end of 2019. Budapest sees Turkish Stream gas supplies as the best option because other routes, across Romania and Croatia, are at an early stage, the foreign minister added.

"This will improve Hungary's energy security a great deal, so it is in our strategic interest for this cooperation to start," said Szijjarto.

Pipe-laying of TurkStream gas pipeline in deep water commenced - GAZPROM

generador facebook boton me gusta

June 23, 2017, 14:15

Gazprom today started laying the TurkStream (aka Turkish Stream) gas pipeline in the deep-water area off the coast of Anapa. The operations were launched with the command given by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the Pioneering Spirit pipe-laying vessel.

Vladimir Putin and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, explored the machinery and equipment of the vessel, including its gas pipeline construction facility used for welding and applying protective coatings to pipes.

Russia's Rosneft says eyes joint oil supplies to Egypt with Italy's Eni - ZAWYA / REUTERS

SOCHI, Russia, May 17 (Reuters)

Reporting by Olesya Astakhova in Moscow and Denis Pinchuk in Sochi; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Jack Stubbs

Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft and Italian energy company Eni have signed an agreement to broaden cooperation, including in possible joint oil product supplies to Egypt, Rosneft said on Wednesday.

The deal was signed as part of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni's visit to Russia, during which he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alexey Miller informs Vladimir Putin of readiness to start laying offshore section of TurkStream gas pipeline - GAZPROM

Vladimir Putin and Alexey Miller. Photo by www.kremlin.ru

May 4, 2017, 21:00

A working meeting took place today between Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

The meeting explored, among other things, Gazprom’s efforts to expand its resource base, including within the Tambey group of fields in the Yamal Peninsula.

Alexey Miller informed Vladimir Putin of the continuing growth in Russian gas supplies to Europe and the readiness to start laying the offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline within a few days.

Rosneft takes key step in push into Middle East - FINANCIAL TIMES

APRIL 3, 2017
Henry Foy in Moscow and David Sheppard in Lausanne; Add'l reporting by Anjli Raval

Russian oil group to expand trading after trumpeting agreements in Egypt and Libya

Russia’s Rosneft will this week take custody of its first independently sourced cargo of Kurdish crude oil from Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, a key step in its strategic push into Middle East energy markets and its attempts to expand trading.

The world’s largest listed oil company by output has spent the past four months trumpeting agreements to buy oil from Egypt, Libya and Iraqi Kurdistan, drilling exploration wells in southern Iraq and considering opportunities in Lebanon, as it chases deals to fuel its fledgling international expansion.

Turkey returns to Russian gas- VESTNIK KAVKAZA

Mar 29 - 4:20 pm

Turkey continues to increase the volume of Russian gas purchases. The trend, which has been observed since the last autumn, continues to gain momentum. According to the latest data, in January-February 2017, Turkey increased Russian's gas imports by 16.6% compared to the same period in 2016.

The expansion of cooperation in the energy sphere was discussed by the Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the Turkish leader's visit to Moscow in early March. Erdogan said then that the Russian-Turkish energy cooperation is of great importance both in terms of natural gas and in terms of other elements, and in general this process is increasingly developing.

EU's Move to Kill South Stream Cost Southeastern Europe Future Energy Security - SPUTNIK NEWS

28.02.201, updated 10:16

The countries of Southeastern Europe saw their future access to energy imperiled when EU bureaucrats decided to block the South Stream project, Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic told Sputnik Serbia; he stressed the importance of the Balkan region obtaining access to Russian gas via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

In an interview with Sputnik Serbia, Srbijagas chief executive Dusan Bajatovic said that EU bureaucrats' decision to block the South Stream project had cost Southeastern Europe its future access to energy.

He also underscored the significance of the Russian gas reaching the Balkan region via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

Gazprom wants to keep EU market share, block Trans-Balkan pipe route - NEW EUROPE

FEBRUARY 17, 2017, 13:34 
Kostis Geropoulos

Russia is likely to maintain some gas transit through Ukraine even if Turkish Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines are built, energy expert Peter Poptchev told New Europe.

“Russia would not mind transiting ‘some’ gas through Ukraine – after it would have realised – if at all – Turkish Stream and Nord Stream 2,” said Poptchev, who served as ambassador-at-large for energy security at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs when the Balkan country negotiated the now-cancelled South Stream pipeline with Gazprom.

Russian parliament ratifies major gas pipeline deal with Turkey - CHINA.ORG / XINHUA

Xinhua, January 20, 2017

Russia's State Duma, or the lower house of parliament, approved a "Turkish Stream" pipeline deal Friday to deliver its natural gas to Turkey and European markets through the Black Sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated the Turkish Stream project in 2014, and sealed the agreement with his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul in October 2016 envisioning the construction of two underwater legs of the gas pipeline.

The project, put on hold after Turkey downed a Russian warplane in November 2015 near Turkish-Syrian border, was brought back to agenda in June 2016 when Moscow and Ankara agreed to revive their relations.

Turkey to start using local currency in energy trade, Energy Minister Albayrak says - DAILY SABAH

December 8, 2016

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak released important messages in a speech during budget talks at the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) on Thursday. He said that Turkey has entered a "new era" in its energy policy, in which it will use Turkish lira in future trade with countries where it has a large volume of energy transactions.

According to the information obtained after Albayrak spoke about using the lira in financing giant-energy projects, it was said that the first move in that direction was taken with Russia. Turkey has taken the initiative to use local currency in the trade of natural gas with Russia. Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that the Russian energy company Gazprom and the Swiss Alleseas Company signed an agreement to build the first pipeline of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline project. According to the agreement, the company will lay a total of 900 kilometers (560 miles) of pipeline in the Black Sea, with the construction set to begin in the second half of 2017.

Turkish parliament ratifies deal on building Turkish Stream gas pipeline - TASS

December 02, 9:12 UTC+3
Ruslan Shamukov/TASS

ANKARA, December 2. /TASS/. The parliament of Turkey has passed a bill on ratifying an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on constructing the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, the Milliyet daily reported on Friday.

A total of 210 lawmakers out of 223 were in favor of the ratification during the vote, which was held last night. On November 29, the parliament’s foreign relations commission also endorsed the bill.

The Russian authorities announced the Turkish Stream in December 2014 to replace the South Stream gas pipeline project. It was planned that the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline would comprise four stretches with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each.

Turkey-Russia relations improve with pipeline politics - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 19th, 2016, 8:20am

Last July’s failed coup attempt in Turkey alarmed everyone who is involved in this region one way or another, writes Anir Jahangirli for NGW. Reactions were across the board: financial markets in the country were shaken and internal political structures were thrown into disarray. The government introduced a state of emergency and is pursuing a hunt of possible coup-attempt allies and supporters.

As a country in southeast Europe and a member of Nato, Turkey hosts US nuclear arsenal and was a key Western ally during the Cold War against the USSR. It has a large competitive market economy and the country is a member of the G20 Club. Since Mr Erdogan came to power, Turkey’s economy saw a boost and the society has been transitioning from the strictly secular into a so-called “moderate Islamic” state.