TurkStream gas pipeline project officially launched by Russia and Turkey

The TurkStream gas pipeline project, the third pipeline to bring Russian gas to Turkey, has been officially opened by Russia and Turkey in the presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Developed by Russian gas giant Gazprom and Turkish oil and gas company Botaş Petroleum Pipeline, the TurkStream pipeline has been built in the Black Sea between the two countries.

The Russian Turkish gas pipeline project comprises a couple of strings, each having a length of 930 kilometers. The capacity of the TurkStream gas pipeline project, that connects the Russian and Turkish gas transmission systems, is 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

TurkStream gas pipeline project opening ceremony in Turkey. Photo courtesy of RIA Novosti/Gazprom.

While the first string of the TurkStream pipeline project transports the Russian natural gas to Turkey, the second string goes beyond Turkey to serve certain countries in the southern and southeastern Europe.

The TurkStream gas pipeline project broke ground in May 2017. Its pipelaying work, which was executed by Allseas Group’s Pioneering Spirit vessel, was completed in November 2018.

In the second half of last year, construction was completed for the receiving terminal of the Russian Turkish gas pipeline project near the Kiyikoy town in Turkey.

One onshore pipeline of the TurkStream project ends at Luleburgaz to connect to the Turkish gas network. On the other hand, the other onshore pipeline of the TurkStream gas pipeline terminates at the Turkish-European border.

The Russkaya compressor station near Anapa in Russia is the starting point for feeding gas into the TurkStream natural gas pipeline.

According to Gazprom, the TurkStream pipeline project has the distinction of seeing an 813mm diameter pipe laid at a depth of 2,200 meters.

Alexey Miller – Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, commenting on the official launch of the TurkStream gas pipeline project, said: “The launch of TurkStream is a history-making event. Firstly, taking into account exports via Blue Stream, we have paved the way for direct transit-free supplies to fully meet Turkey’s needs for Gazprom’s gas. Secondly, Europe now has a new and reliable route to receive Russian pipeline gas.

“There is no doubt that, thanks to all of this, our cooperation with our Turkish and European partners is shifting to a new level and is going to help improve energy security in the region.”