MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. Russia’s major gas producer Gazprom does not rule out acquisition of existing and construction of new power generation facilities in Turkey, Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said in an interview with the corporate magazine Gazprom.
"We’re interested in participating in the Turkish power generation projects under certain conditions. We would be interested in exploring the potential of this business. I assume the issue may be about acquisition of existing projects or the construction of new ones in the future," he said.
"Turkey is the second-biggest foreign market for Gazprom after Germany," Medvedev said, adding that Russia’s gas supplies to the country amounted to 27 bln cubic meters in 2015. The plan is to supply 24.5 bln cubic meters of gas by the end of this year and 25.1 bln cubic meters in 2017, he said.
According to Medvedev, the construction of the first line of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline may be completed by the end of 2019. "By granting permits, particularly for the construction of the marine section of the pipeline, the Turkish government confirmed its interest in implementing the Turkish Stream project. The way the situation is unfolding now allows us to expect the first line of the Turkish Stream aimed for supplies to Turkish consumers, to be completed by the end of 2019," he said.
However, Deputy Chairman added, the start of works on the second line of the pipeline aimed for consumers in South Eastern European countries, is not possible earlier than the European Union (EU) and the European Commission (EC) provide guarantees that the infrastructure will be in demand.
The company plans to continue cooperation on the issues with Turkey and the EU, Medvedev said. "The Turkish authorities have confirmed their readiness to participate in the construction of the transit line on their territory if needed. The Greek side fully bolsters the relevance of Russian gas supplies in this direction. Given the current progress on the Turkish Stream we plan to boost cooperation with Greek partners, including on the implementation of the transit project via Greece to Italy," he said.
The memorandum earlier signed by Gazprom, DEPA and Edison, stipulates constant operations of the working group to develop particular practical steps regarding future joint efforts.
Meanwhile, according to Medvedev, the issue of reviving the South Stream project is not relevant now. "We’ve noticed the intention of the Bulgarian side to get back to the implementation of the South Stream. At some point, we ran up serious losses due to refusal of our partners to implement the project, and since the time many issues related to the South Stream has remained open. Taking into consideration Bulgaria’s broad interpretation of the EU’s Third energy package, the issue of reviving the project, particularly in the way it was initially set, is not relevant as of today," he said, adding that Moscow is focusing all its efforts on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.