Turkey, Russia to expand Blue Stream pipeline
Posted by meb at March 28th, 2009
A meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Güler yesterday focused on ways Russia and Turkey could expand their existing cooperation on natural gas.
Heavy emphasis was placed on expanding the Blue Stream pipeline, which presently runs from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea. The proposed new pipeline, with the working title “Blue Stream 2,” is expected to expand output capacity by 10 billion cubic meters per year. There was also talk of bringing Israel on board the project and supplying gas to the Mediterranean. Güler was reported by the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency as saying trilateral talks with Israel would commence shortly after Israel forms its new cabinet. Miller emphasized that Gazprom would continue supplying extra gas to Turkey should the need arise. “Many years of cooperation in the gas industry testify to our reliability as a partner,” Miller was quoted as saying. “We’ve always come to Turkey’s aid when the Turkish market needed extra amounts of gas during periods of especially cold weather or in force majeure circumstances.” The two countries expect Turkey’s gas consumption to rise exponentially in the coming years and have now committed to working toward ensuring supplies. Blue Stream 2 is being touted as a potentially significant contribution to these efforts.
source: Today’s Zaman
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