Gazprom CEO: Turkish Stream optimal choice for Europe

Alexey Miller, the president of Russian energy giant Gazprom, said central and southern European countries should apply to Turkey for their natural gas demands, adding that they should buy natural gas with the Turkish Stream pipeline which will run from Russia to Turkey, instead of the South Stream, which will be built in Bulgaria.

According to news by Sabah online, in a statement regarding the issuance of exploration permits that Russia requested from Turkey for the natural gas pipeline passing through the Black Sea during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit, Gazprom President Alexey Miller said the exploration permits Russia requested from Turkish authorities are fully related to the planned Turkish Stream project, and have no relevance to the South Stream project whatsoever. According to Miller, if European countries demand natural gas via the Turkish Stream pipeline, Turkey will provide the natural gas through its border with Greece. Therefore, European countries wishing to purchase natural gas can apply to Turkey.

In a statement regarding the nature of the bilateral meeting between President Erdoğan and Russian leader Putin prior to the G20 Summit in China, the Kremlin Palace announced that Turkey requested the full elimination of sanctions on agricultural imports after the charter flight ban was lifted during the normalization process between the two countries. Listing the subjects discussed by the two leaders, Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said three important issues came to the fore during the meeting; namely, the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline project, Turkey's plans to purchase larger amounts of crude oil from Russia and the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project. "Besides, in the scope of the normalization process between the two countries, Turkey brought up the lifting of the ban implemented by Russia on agricultural products as swiftly as possible and we promised that we will work in that direction," Peskov said.

During his visit to Turkey in December 2014, Putin announced that Moscow had scrapped the South Stream pipeline project that would have carried Russian natural gas to Europe via Bulgaria, replacing it with the planned Turkish Stream pipeline. The Turkish Stream is designed to carry natural gas to Europe over the Turkish-Greek border. The process of negotiations have accelerated and more concrete steps have begun to be taken by both countries since the meeting of Erdoğan and Putin in St. Petersburg on Aug. 9.