Turkish Stream

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Planned course of the "Turkish Stream" pipeline

Turkish Stream (also Turkstream ; Russian Турецкий поток ; Turkish Türk Akımı ) is an international project of a gas pipeline with four tubes that run on the bottom of the Black Sea from the southern Russian coastal city of Anapa to Turkey . The infrastructure built for the abandoned South Stream project was used on Russian territory to build the approx. 1100 km long gas pipeline . The offshore part of the pipeline will be 910 km, the onshore part on Turkish soil 180 km. The pipeline runs from Anapa on the bottom of the Black Sea to the Turkish town of Kıyıköy in the European part of Turkey, and on to the town of Lüleburgaz , where gas is transferred to Turkish customers. Turkstream is fully funded by Gazprom .

On January 8, 2020, the section running through the Black Sea was opened by Presidents Erdoğan and Putin and gas deliveries began.

Purpose of the pipeline

Pipeline network from Russia to Western Europe

Russian natural gas is currently delivered directly to Turkey via the Blue Stream pipeline without having to be transported through another transit country. Turkish Stream significantly complements Blue Stream's transport capacity, which enables a maximum of 16 million tons of natural gas per year, and can thus meet a possible growth in Turkish demand. Realistically speaking, Turkey currently has few alternatives to Russian natural gas. When fully expanded with four tubes, Turkish Stream could transport more than three times as much gas as Blue Stream.

Another option for Turkish Stream is to deliver natural gas via Turkey as a transit country to countries in the European Union (e.g. via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline ). Gazprom began building the South Stream pipeline to supply South Eastern Europe with gas to Bulgaria. In the meantime, Gazprom has changed its plans and is now driving the Turkish Stream project forward. The capacity of the four Turkish Stream tubes will be up to 63 billion m³ of gas per year, of which 47 billion m³ of gas will be transported to İpsala on the Turkish-Greek border . A distribution center is to be built there that will transport the gas to European countries. Gazprom intends to use the new gas pipeline to diversify transport routes in order to reduce the dependency of suppliers and buyers on the transit countries Belarus , Poland , Ukraine , Slovakia and Austria , through which pipelines for Russian natural gas to southern Europe currently run. Russia is currently supplying natural gas to Germany and Western Europe through several pipelines, including the Nord Stream pipeline , which runs through the Baltic Sea . Some of them run through Ukraine. After the expiry of the Russian-Ukrainian gas transit contract in 2019, no new contract will be concluded and no more gas will be transported through Ukraine to the European Union.

Competition for gas delivery and transport

The Transanatolian Pipeline (TANAP), the construction of which began in 2015 and which, like Turkish Stream, is to run through the Southern Corridor , is also intended to deliver natural gas to Greece . TANAP is not supplied with Russian gas, but with gas from Azerbaijan . The Azerbaijani gas is to be pumped from Greece to other European countries, especially to Southeastern Europe . The shares in TANAP are held by the Turkish BOTAŞ and TPAO (20%) and the state-owned SOCAR from Azerbaijan (80%). The only pipeline operator in Greece is DESFA (National Natural Gas System Operator SA). The EU's third energy package requires the separation of network operation and generation. The EU Commission is therefore examining the takeover of the Greek gas transmission network operator DESFA by the state oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan SOCAR, which wants to buy a 66% stake in DESFA. Competitors such as Turkish Stream could be prevented by SOCAR from accessing the Greek pipeline network.

Tesla pipeline

The Tesla pipeline is a project classified by the EU as a “Project of Common Interests” to enable the transport of natural gas between Greece and Austria. Russian natural gas, which was transported to Greece through the planned Turkish Stream pipeline, is to be forwarded via North Macedonia , Serbia , Hungary and Austria to the Balkan countries as well as to Central Europe and Italy . A pipeline from the border with Turkey to the border with North Macedonia and two or three compressor stations are to be built on Greek soil .

History of origin

2014

On December 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference in Ankara that because of the position of the European Union , Russia would refrain from building the South Stream pipeline . Resources freed up would be diverted to other regions and liquefied gas projects. “We think the European Commission's position has not been constructive. In fact, it was not that the European Commission helped make this project a reality; rather, we see obstacles being put in the way of making it happen. If Europe does not want to implement the project, it means that it will not be implemented, ”Putin said. Putin said that the reason for not building South Stream was that Bulgaria had not issued a building permit. The actions of the Bulgarian government were part of the western policy of sanctions against Russia in response to the Ukraine crisis and the war in Ukraine since 2014 . Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced on December 1 that the South Stream gas pipeline project was closed and there would be no return to this project.

On the same day, Gazprom and the Turkish BOTAŞ signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of the pipeline from Russia to Turkey. A contract for this was announced for June 2015. The construction of a pipeline in Greece to take over the gas on the Turkish border and transport it onward remained the subject of political votes for the time being.

2015

Miller announced on January 14, 2015 that it would cease gas deliveries across the territory of Ukraine with the commissioning of Turkish Stream. He called on the Europeans to create the necessary infrastructure in the south-east of the continent to enable delivery via the new pipeline. The EU Commission was skeptical about the feasibility of the new project and feared that Russia wanted to stir up disagreement between EU countries.

Further work on the project was stopped by Russia after the Turkish Air Force shot down a Sukhoi Su-24 of the Russian Air Force in November 2015.

2016-2017

Talks were resumed in July 2016. In September, Gazprom received the first permit from the Turkish authorities for the construction of the sea section through the Turkish part of the Black Sea, as well as for exploration work on both strands of the offshore pipeline in the exclusive economic zone and in the coastal waters of Turkey.

On October 10, 2016, the energy ministers of both countries ( Berat Albayrak ( Yıldırım cabinet ) and Alexander Nowak ( Medvedev’s cabinet ) signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the pipeline in Istanbul in the presence of Presidents Erdoğan and Putin. The agreement concerns two offshore pipes from Russia to Turkey, which will be laid through the Black Sea, and also an onshore pipe that will transport gas to the Turkish border with neighboring countries.

Turkey is the second largest export market after Germany for the state-controlled Russian energy company Gazprom . CEO Alexei Miller said in autumn 2016 that construction could begin in 2017 and finish in 2019.

On July 4, 2017, President Putin personally announced the start of construction on the deepwater section.

2018-2019

At the beginning of 2018, more than half of the pipeline was built and gas deliveries were expected to start at the end of 2019. In November 2019, Gazprom reported that both the Russian and Turkish sections had been filled with gas.

2020

On January 8, 2020, the first section of Turkstream through the Black Sea was opened by Presidents Erdoğan and Putin . The start of gas deliveries to Greece and North Macedonia was announced at the beginning of January.

The completion of a second onshore arm of the pipeline, which will continue one of the four tubes from Turkey through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia to Western Europe, is scheduled for 2020. The Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borys told the Russian "Kommersant" that the second onshore arm will not be operational until 2021.

However, like Nord Stream 2 , the Turkstream pipeline is also affected by US sanctions.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Turkish Stream , Gazprom Export, undated
  2. ↑ Main Stage for TurkStream in Paris , OWC publishing house for Foreign Trade, June 8, 2015
  3. ↑ a b Putin and Erdogan open pipeline Turkish Stream , Spiegel Online, January 8, 2020.
  4. ↑ Katja Yafimava: The revived Turkish Stream: What, when, and where? ( Memento from October 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) , Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, contribution to the European Autumn Gas Conference 2016
  5. ↑ Gazprom will stop sending gas through Ukraine from 2019 , Die Zeit . June 9, 2015
  6. ↑ UKRAINE / Gazprom confirms: Gas transit via Ukraine will be discontinued in 2019 ( memento from June 17, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ), FAZ from June 9, 2015
  7. ↑ EU Commission welcomes decision on gas pipeline: Door opener for direct link to Caspian Sea . Press release of the European Commission, Brussels, June 28, 2013 (English).
  8. ↑ Merger control: Commission examines takeover of Greek gas transmission system operator DESFA by SOCAR . European Commission press release, November 5, 2014.
  9. ↑ Azerbaijan's Socar signs deal to buy 66% of Greece's gas grid operator DESFA . Platts , December 23, 2013 (English).
  10. ↑ European Commission, Energy, Projects common interest: Technical information on Projects of Common Interest, p. 35
  11. ↑ Россия не будет строить “Южный поток” , Vesti.ru, December 1, 2014
  12. ↑ RIA Novosti : Миллер: проект "Южный поток" закрыт, возврата не будет , December 1, 2014
  13. ↑ Putin, Erdogan discuss joint energy projects, including Turkish Stream TASS , March 18, 2015
  14. ↑ Energy giant wants to conclude pipeline deal with Turkey Handelsblatt , June 9, 2015
  15. ↑ Putin and Tsipras meet after the euro finance ministers summit Die Welt , June 16, 2015
  16. ^ Finances.net : Russia wants to drop Ukraine for gas transit - EU without answer
  17. ↑ Possible deal between Athens and Moscow: Greece hopes for Russian pipeline billions , Der Spiegel, April 18, 2015
  18. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : Turkish Stream gas project because of Russian-Turkish dispute on hold ( memento from December 3, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on December 3, 2015
  19. ^ Erdoğan: Turkey ready for Turkish Stream. In: Daily Sabah . August 9, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016 .
  20. ↑ a b FAZ.net October 11, 2016 / Michael Martens : My Syria, your Syria
  21. ↑ Turkey, Russia strike strategic Turkish Stream gas pipeline deal - Latest News .
  22. ↑ New Best Friends: How South Stream Unites Turkey and Russia , RBTH, July 4, 2017
  23. ↑ Merve İdil, Kazım Ataer: Over 50 percent of construction on first Turkish Stream pipeline completed , Hürriyet Daily News, January 29, 2018
  24. ↑ AA : TurkStream to hit Turkish shore in May: Project head , Hürriyet Daily New, January 5, 2018
  25. ↑ Gazprom says both legs of TurkStream pipeline filled with gas .
  26. ↑ Russian begins TurkStream gas flows to Greece, North Macedonia . 5th January 2020.  
  27. ↑ Putin accuses Bulgaria of TurkStream pipeline holdup, says can bypass country if needed .
  28. ↑ Aleksandra Fedorska: POSSIBLE DELAYS IN TURKISH STREAM. In: energate.de. March 13, 2020, accessed July 26, 2020 .
  29. ↑ The Federal Government takes note of the sanctions against Nordstream2 and Turkstream with regret .
  30. ↑ see also FAZ.net / Michael Martens January 8, 2020: The Balkans on the long side arm (comment)