ST. PETERSBURG, August 9. /TASS/. Construction of the first line of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project should end by December 2019 in accordance with the work schedule, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday on the air with Rossiya 24 TV Channel.

"This will be most probably in 2019, speaking about the deadline. Construction will be completed at that time, considering that the draft roadmap so provides," Novak said responding to the question about completion of the first line.

Turkey intends to speed up implementation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project in cooperation with Russia, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Gazprom has already started negotiations with the Turkish side on resumption of construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told journalist on Tuesday.

"They have already begun today, Head of Gazprom Alexei Miller talked to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Berat Albayrak and with representatives of the companies," Novak said.

He added that the Ministry has already sent the project’s plan for construction of the gas pipeline to Turkey and it was confirmed during the negotiations that the Turkish partners are interested in cooperation on the project.

"Today we have once again received confirmation that the Turkish side is interested," Novak said. He added that the Russian government wanted to speed up processing the documents - intergovernmental agreement and a "road map".

Turkish Stream infrastructure roadmap

Russia prepared and handed over the Turkish Stream infrastructure development roadmap to Turkey,  Alexander Novak said.

"We have already prepared the roadmap - the detailed plan and schedule of activities for infrastructure development," Novak said.

The draft intergovernmental agreement is expected to be agreed and signed in October 2016, the Minister said. Construction of the first line of the Turkish Stream will start after obtainment of all requirement construction and survey permits for Turkish territorial waters, he added.

Russia and Turkey also intend to set up a working group for the Turkish Stream, Novak said. "Our partners and we agreed to establish a working group for implementation of this project," he added.

Discount on gas

Discount on gas for Turkey was not discussed during the talks on Tuesday, Russian Energy Minister said.

"This issue was not raised or discussed," Novak said, answering the question about discussion of gas discount for Turkey in implementation of the Turkish stream.

He added that the current situation is very different from what it was two years ago, when the issue of prices was discussed. Gas prices dropped significantly, and the formula for calculating gas contract price "is quite on the market level."

The Turkish Stream pipeline was announced by the Russian authorities in December 2014 as a replacement for the South Stream pipeline. It was planned that the marine section of Turkish Stream would comprise four lines with the capacity of 15.75 bln cubic meters each. The pipeline is to run 660 km in the old South Stream corridor and 250 km in the new corridor in the direction of the European part of Turkey.

Natural gas supplies through the first line of the pipeline are planned for meeting the demand of the growing Turkish market. On December 1, 2014, Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom and Turkish company Botas signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline with the capacity of 63 bln cubic meters of gas per year from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea. In 2015, Russia’s Energy Minister Novak said that at the first stage it was planned to lay two branches of the pipeline.