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Turkish Stream deal may be signed in Istanbul

On October 10-12 a meeting of the Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation will take place in Istanbul

© Kirill Kuhmar/TASS

ANKARA, October 9. /TASS/. Moscow and Ankara may sign an agreement on the Turkish Stream project in Istanbul, where on October 10-12 will take place a meeting of the Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, Russia’s Minister of Energy Alexander Novak said in an interview with the Hurriyet newspaper, published on Sunday.

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"A draft of the intergovernmental agreement is ready," he said. "On the outstanding issues Russia is having active contacts with the Turkish side. There is a chance, the agreement will ge signed."

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. The project’s total cost was estimated at 11.4 bln euro, with the cost of the first line amounting to 4.3 bln euro.

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.

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