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Russia to own Turkish Stream’s seabed section, Turkey — its land section, ministry says

On Monday, the Russian and Turkish energy ministers signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline

ISTANBUL, October 10. /TASS/. Russia will own the seabed section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and Turkey will own its mainland section, the Russian Energy Ministry said on Monday citing Minister Alexander Novak after talks with Turkey.

"As Alexander Novak said, the agreement envisages that the land section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline will be owned by a Turkish company, while its seabed section will be owned by a Russian company," the ministry said.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak and Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. The agreement was signed in the presence of the two countries’ presidents, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

After Russia abandoned the South Stream project in 2014 over the European Union’s insistence on its compliance with the so-called Third Energy Package, it was decided to launch an alternative project — the Turkish Stream. It was initially planned to build four threads of the pipeline with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. However, talks on the project were soon suspended over a chill in Russia-Turkey bilateral relations.

After the two countries resumed full-format relations, the work on the Turkish Stream project was continued. The sides set up a working group and drafted a roadmap.

The project provides for the construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea bed to Turkey’s European part, with further extension to the border with Greece. The seabed section is about 910 kilometers and the mainland section in Turkey — 180 kilometers. The project cost was earlier estimated at 11.4 billion euros. It is planned that the first thread will be meant entirely for supplies of gas to the Turkish market.