Turkey, Russia to agree on gas supply - Matthew Bryza

Turkey and Russia will agree on the gas supply issue, Matthew Bryza, the former deputy assistant of the US secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan and director of International Centre for Defence and Security in Tallinn told Trend on Mar.18.

He was commenting on the refusal of Turkey’s BOTAS company to sign an agreement with Russia’s Gazprom company on 10.25-percent discount for the gas supplied to Turkey.

Bryza said refusal is an ordinary part of the negotiation process that will by no means affect the further implementation of the Turkish Stream project.

It is not necessary to implement the project in accordance with the conditions proposed by the Russian side, he said, adding that however, eventually, Russia and Turkey will reach a mutually beneficial agreement on gas supply.

sh Stream project. ordinary part of the negotiation process that will by no means affect the further implementation of the Turk

Turkish BOTAS declined to sign an agreement with Russia’s Gazprom on Mar.17 on a 10.25-percent discount on the Russian gas supplied to Turkey. The refusal to sign the agreement came due to that the discount rate proposed by Russia doesn’t suit Turkey.

It should be noted that Gazprom and BOTAS signed a memorandum of understanding on Dec.1, 2014 on construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline for transporting gas from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea.

The pumping capacity of the pipeline will be 63 billion cubic meters of gas and it is planned to deliver around 50 billion cubic meters of this volume to the new gas hub on Turkish-Greek border.

It is also planned that the first line of the pipeline, with a pumping capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year, will be stretched to Turkey in December 2016.

/By Trend/