Russian, Turkish presidents to discuss gas hub project in Türkiye

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are set to discuss the establishment of a gas hub in Türkiye during their meeting in Kazan on October 23.

The statement by the Kremlin emphasized that the leaders will address the international gas hub project, highlighting the effective cooperation between Moscow and Ankara in the energy sector, Caliber.Az reports citing Russian media.

It noted the stable operation of the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines as a testament to this successful collaboration.

The Blue Stream pipeline project is a major gas pipeline carrying natural gas from Russia to Türkiye across land and the Black Sea (to diversify Russian gas routes). The pipeline is owned and operated by Blue Stream Pipeline BV, which is a Netherlands joint venture between Gazprom of Russia and Eni of Italy.

The joint venture owns the sea section of the pipeline and the Beregovaya compressor station. Gazprom owns the section of the pipeline on Russian territory and BOTAS owns the section of the pipeline on Turkish territory.

Construction started in 2001-02 and the pipeline was inaugurated in November 2005. The original pipeline cost $3.4bn to built (the subsea section cost $1.7bn) and used pioneering pipe-laying methodology.

TurkStream directly connects the largest gas reserves in Russia to the Turkish gas transportation network, providing reliable energy to Türkiye, South and Southeast Europe.

The offshore component of the system consists of two parallel lines running through the Black Sea. The pipelines enter the water on the Russian coast, and come ashore on the Turkish coast in the Thrace region.

From the receiving terminal in Türkiye, one of the two underground onshore pipelines connects to the existing Turkish gas network at Luleburgaz. The other pipeline continues to the Turkish-European border, where it ends.

By Vafa Guliyeva