KIEV, August 19 /TASS/. Ukraine will lose a considerable part of its gas transit revenues if the Turkish Stream is built, Andrei Kobolev, the head of Ukraine’s state company Naftogaz, said in an interview with Ukraine’s TV 5 Channel.

"The project’s implementation will have negative consequences for Ukraine. Though it is going to be less damaging than from the Nord Stream, Ukraine will lose approximately 15 billion cubic meters of transit out of the current 70 billion cubic meters. It’s a very big sum," Kobolev said.

On August 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the construction of the first stage of the Turkish Stream pipeline, which will bypass Ukraine but will meet Turkey’s demand in gas might start very soon. Russia will discuss the construction of the pipeline’s second stage intended for delivery of gas to EU with the European Commission.

Experts believe that Russia may significantly reduce its gas transits via Ukraine after the Turkish Stream is completed and the Nord Stream -2 becomes operational. In addition to that, a contract for the volumes and terms of transit of Russian natural gas via Ukraine, effective since 2009, is expiring in 2019. Gazprom’s Chief Alexey Miller said back in June this year that after 2020 the transit of Russian gas to EU via Ukraine might not exceed 15 billion cubic meters.

The path-through capacity of the Ukrainian gas transportation system is 110 billion cubic meters. In 2015, Russian gas transits via the Ukrainian gas transportation system amounted to 67 billion cubic meters. Ukraine’s economy earns approximately 2 billion dollars annually from the operation of its gas transportation system.