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Russia expects invitation from Turkish side to continue dialogue on Turkish Stream

Talks over Turkish Stream have been suspended as the sides cannot reach consensus on a number of issues

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/. Russia is expecting an invitation from the Turkish side to continue work on intergovernmental agreement on construction of two lines of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline after the new government is formed in the country, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Thursday.

"Currently, we’re expecting an invitation depending on how the government will be formed so that we could finalize work on the text of the intergovernmental agreement," the Minister said.

On November 1, early parliamentary elections were held in Turkey. New government will be formed within 45 days. "We expect that during this period of time when the permanent government is being formed the work on the text of the intergovernmental agreement on construction of 2 lines of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline within Turkey will be continued," the Minister said.

Talks over Turkish Stream have been suspended as the sides cannot reach consensus on a number of issues. Currently, construction of only 1 line of the pipeline for Turkey’s local needs is being discussed.

On November 4, Turkey submitted a letter to Gazprom with an offer to continue discussion of technical issues related to the project’s implementation. The Republic also expects a 10.25% discount for Russian natural gas.

On October 26, Turkey filed an arbitration case against Gazprom, disputing the price for Russian gas. According to the statement published by the Turkish company Botas, the agreement, which was signed on December 29, 2014 entitles the Turkish side to do this. "Botas has sent a written request to Gazprom Export regarding gas discount (in 2014 - TASS). The talks resulted in an agreement to reduce price and define discount due to take effect on December 29, 2014. After the 6-month period stipulated by the agreement expired on June 29, 2015 Botas did not apply to arbitration regarding price revision. However, the required documents, defined by agreements achieved earlier, were never signed," the statement said.

Gazprom official representative Sergey Kupriyanov confirmed to TASS that "the contracts stipulate" the possibility of Botas’ applying to arbitration.

As TASS reported earlier on July 31, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Gazprom and Botas had already reached an agreement on 10.25% gas discount. He added that the sides hadn’t signed any documents related to discount.

Gas discount for the Turkish state company is a compromise between Russia and Turkey within the intergovernmental agreement on construction of the 1st line of the Turkish Stream. The Russian side has already submitted draft agreement and expects its signing will be combined with signing of the additional agreement on discount.