Russia’s Gazprom does not rule out involving other shareholders in Turkish Stream project

MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Russia’s gas giant Gazprom does not rule out involving other shareholders in the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee Alexander Medvedev said Wednesday. "We have candidates /for shareholders - TASS/, for offshore part," he said, adding though that no such negotiations are in place yet. "Currently we don’t need holding negotiations. There are candidates. First we need to receive all necessary decisions and agreements," Medvedev said. As TASS reported earlier Gazprom invited Turkey to participate in the project. The Turkish Stream will serve as an alternative to the South Stream gas pipeline project abandoned by Russia in December 2014. The larger part of the Turkish Stream pipeline will run across the Black Sea and coincide with the South Stream route approved earlier. Unlike the South Stream, which implied a large-scale infrastructure construction in Europe, the Turkish Stream project is limited to the construction of a pipeline under the Black Sea and a gas hub on the border between Turkey and Greece. The remaining part of infrastructure will have to be built by Gazprom’s European customers themselves. Gazprom and Turkey’s Botas signed a memorandum of understanding on December 1, 2014 on building the pipeline’s offshore section across the Black Sea. The Turkish Stream will have an annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, of which 47 billion cubic meters will be delivered to a new gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border. Gazprom Russkaya Company will be in charge of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline construction. Read more