MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Russia’s Federation Council has approved the law on ratification of the agreement between Russian and Turkish governments on the construction the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline.
Deputy Energy Minister Yuri Sentyurin, an official representative of Russian government regarding the project, said that the agreement "implies the creation of a favorable regulatory and legal framework, including tax and customs regulations, for design, construction and further service treatment of the gas pipeline." The Turkish Stream is designed to deliver Russian gas to Turkey, as well as "to ensure that the Russian side fulfills all its commitments on Russian gas supplies to the territory of the states of the European Union after 2019," he said, adding though that the new pipeline will not allow Russia to completely avoid the Ukrainian gas transit route, but will help "substantially mitigate related risks."
According to Federation Council’s Deputy Chairman Ilyas Umakhanov, the ratification of the agreement on Turkish Stream gas pipeline is politically important for "a complete recovery of relations with the Turkish Republic."
The agreement on Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline was signed in Istanbul on October 10, 2016. The project envisages the construction of two lines of the pipeline via the Black Sea from Russia to the European part of Turkey with annual capacity of 31.5 bln cubic meters of gas (15.75 bln cubic meters each). The seabed section is about 920 kilometers and the mainland section is around 200 kilometers. The plan is to complete the construction by December 30, 2019.