South Stream

Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan aboard an installation vessel on June 23, telling him that work on the Turkish Stream pipeline has started in its deep-water section.

"Our projects with Turkey are developing in a way unlike they are with our many other partners," Putin said, according to the Sputnik new agency.

Russia's largest natural gas producer, Gazprom, estimates the cost of building two lines of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline to be $6 billion, Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Andrei Kruglov was quoted as saying by Reuters on June 22. 

The first line is to run to Turkey, while the second one will ship natural gas to Europe.

Austrian energy group OMV and Russia's Gazprom are considering reviving a gas pipeline project through the Black Sea connecting Russia to central and southern Europe, an Austrian newspaper said on June 13.

Photo: TANJUG

Russia, Hungary and Serbia have returned to the negotiating table on the issue of building the South Stream gas pipeline, Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said Friday.

The Pioneering Spirit vessel, which will carry out the construction of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline's offshore section, arrived at the Çanakkale Strait early on May 30, according to the vessel's Swiss owner, Allseas.

At the end of last week Russia's energy giant Gazprom started the actual construction of the Turkish Steam gas pipeline after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave green light to that project, quoted by BNR.

Gazprom will be ready to start laying pipes on the Turkish Stream offshore section in several days, the company's CEO Alexei Miller told Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 4, as Russia's TASS reported. 

Putin has ordered Gazprom to start laying pipes on sea stretch of Turkish Stream pipeline.

A whole set of rigorous Energy Community's requirements for the construction of the now abandoned South Stream pipeline does not apply to Nord ("north") Stream.

A Prime Ministry circular has called on all public institutions to cooperate and coordinate effectively to complete the Turkish Stream pipeline project in the envisaged period of time, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Russian gas giant Gazprom has increased gas supplies to those countries that could become Turkish Stream pipeline clients.

The company has increased gas exports to Serbia by 37.6 percent.