Azerbaijan’s energy minister attends inauguration of TurkStream

Baku, January 9, AZERTAC Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov has attended the launch of the TurkStream project in Istanbul. Along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior government representatives from several other countries attended the event. The TurkStream will provide gas to Turkey and the south and southeast Europe in two parallel pipelines, running 930 km through the Black Sea, from the Russian city of Anapa to the northwestern Turkish town of Kiyikoy in the Trace region. One pipeline will supply gas to Turkey, and the other will reach the Turkish-European border to carry the gas first to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. Speaking at the ceremony, Putin said Turkey and Russia will implement many more mutually beneficial projects in energy and other areas, despite efforts at obstruction. For his part, Erdogan called the pipeline project "historic" in terms of the bilateral ties and the world's energy map. TurkStream will deliver a total of 31.5 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas each year, with Turkey receiving half of it and Europe, the rest.