Erdogan ratifies agreement on Turkish Stream

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed a law on ratification of the agreement with Russia on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline’s construction project, Turkey’s Resmi Gazete reported.

The Turkish Stream project was announced in late 2014 by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his state visit to Turkey.

In November 2015, the project was suspended after a Russian Su-24 aircraft was downed by a Turkish F-16 fighter in Syria. A thaw in relations between Moscow and Ankara began last June following Turkey's apology to Russia.

Moscow and Ankara signed an intergovernmental agreement October 10 on the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.

The agreement involves the construction of two branches of the main gas pipeline under the Black Sea, the power of each branch being 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas.

One branch is provided to supply gas directly to the Turkish market, the other for the supply of gas by transit through Turkey to Europe. The intergovernmental agreement also stipulates that these two offshore branches should be built by December 2019.

The project’s total cost is estimated at €11.4 billion, with the cost of the first line amounting to €4.3 billion.

The Turkish parliament has approved the agreement on "Turkish Stream" last week.  The Russian Parliament is expected to ratify the agreement in the near future.