Turkey expects Russian gas supplies via Blue Stream to increase by 3 bln cu m

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Turkey wants Russia to boost natural gas supplies via the Blue Stream pipeline by 3 billion cubic meters, the country’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday. Speaking after a meeting of the Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission, the minister said Turkey expects to receive additional gas volumes via the major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline with a discount. “We have sent our proposals to Gazprom concerning the discount for gas, and we hope that Gazprom will take these proposals into account,” he said, adding that Gazprom could launch additional gas supplies to Turkey in early 2016. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told journalists that increasing the Russian gas supplies “will demand investment and its economic efficiency needs to be assessed.” In a statement, issued following the meeting, the sides noted that an assessment into the economic efficiency of the needed investment has to be completed before taking a balanced decision on boosting the gas supplies. The Russian side stressed that works to complete the modernization of an entry section of the Durusu Terminal in Turkey are a necessary condition for ensuring the increase in Russian gas supplies via the pipeline. The parties expressed readiness to contribute to a speedy modernization of the terminal and pledged to swiftly agree on simplified customs processing for supplies of the necessary equipment. The Blue Stream gas pipeline, commissioned in December 2002, has a total length of 1,213 kilometers (754 miles). As of March 2014, the amount of gas supplied via Blue Stream since February 2003 totaled 100 billion cubic meters. Read more