Russia-Turkey Agreement on Turkish Stream Expected Within Months – Gazprom

Russian energy giant Gazprom expects to get the necessary permission from Ankara for the implementation of the Turkish Stream gas project in the near future, the company’s CEO Alexei Miller told journalists on Friday.

RUSSKY ISLAND (Sputnik) – The Turkish Stream project, which was planned to bring Russian gas via the Black Sea into Turkey and southern Europe, was suspended after a Russian Su-24 aircraft was downed by a Turkish F-16 fighter in Syria on November 24, 2015. In June, following Turkey's apology to Russia for the November incident, the sides began a reconciliation process.

On August 10, Gazprom's project management department official Anatoly Fayantsev said that the energy giant was willing to sign an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream with Turkey and was planning to update a roadmap for the halted project.

"Gazprom will get a confirmation that all the permissions issued earlier for the South Stream in Turkey will be effective for the Turkish Stream," Miller said.

According to the Gazprom CEO, a roadmap for the Turkish Stream is expected to be worked out in October.

"Within several months [after the road map is agreed] an [intergovernmental] agreement will be ready."

He added that Gazprom is currently studying the prospects of power generation for the Turkish Stream in Turkey.