Full stream ahead: Russia & Turkey launch TurkStream gas pipeline

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have launched the long-anticipated offshore pipeline TurkStream, that will deliver Russian gas to Turkey and further to southern European states.

The 930 km pipeline running across the bottom of the Black Sea became operational on Wednesday, with the two leaders attending a special opening ceremony.

In his remarks at the inauguration ceremony, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the launch of one of “largest construction projects in modern history” marks a “historic day” for the world energy development as a whole.

TurkStream is the “Silk road of the energy world” and a big step forward for Turkey, as well as a cornerstone of the relations between the two nations, Turkish energy minister Fatih Donmez told the audience.

The TurkStream natural gas pipeline was created as an alternative to the South Stream pipeline after Bulgaria ditched the project in 2014, under pressure from the US. The two-string TurkStream boasts the total capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters, with one line supplying Turkey and the other transferring the blue fuel to southern and southeastern Europe.

In a last-ditch effort to stop Russia’s energy projects, US President Donald Trump signed into law the massive National Defense Authorization Act in late December. According to the document, companies involved in the construction of both TurkStream as Nord Stream 2 could face US penalties unless they quit the Russian projects.

However, unlike Nord Stream 2, the offshore section of the TurkStream had been already completed by that time. Ankara has also vowed to retaliate against any US sanctions.

Some EU states are separately building their sections of the pipeline to get the gas supplies from Russia. In late December, Bulgaria announced its readiness to receive natural gas from Russia’s Gazprom via Turkey. The new route is more economically viable for the country and could make gas cheaper for its consumers by around 5 percent, according to the country's Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

Serbia is also looking forward to getting Russian gas supplies and has already completed its section of the pipeline. But the country is not directly linked to the pipe, and will have to wait until neighboring Bulgaria extends TurkStream to its border. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier accused Sofia of deliberately delaying the construction of its section, warning that Moscow can find ways to bypass its territory, if necessary.

Serbia’s northern neighbor Hungary also wants to use the TurkStream natural gas pipeline to diversify national energy supplies. Budapest hopes that Sofia and Belgrade will finish their legs of the project in time, allowing it to get the first Russian gas supplies in 2021.

Turkey vows to retaliate if US imposes sanctions on Russian gas pipeline

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hit back against US threats to impose sanctions on the TurkStream pipeline that is set to deliver Russian gas to Turkey and further to southern and southeastern Europe starting next year.

“Now they [the US] say ‘we will impose sanctions on TurkStream,’” Erdogan told reporters on Friday in Malaysia. “This is a complete violation of our rights,”he said, adding that Ankara would retaliate against such a step.

The TurkStream project was created as an alternative to the South Stream pipeline. The project to deliver Russian gas to southern Europe was blocked by Bulgaria in 2014 under pressure from the US.

TurkStream is a two-string pipeline that will go from Russia along the bottom of the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey and will have a throughput capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters. The official launch of the pipeline is scheduled for January 8, when Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Turkey to met Erdogan.

Earlier this week, the US Senate adopted the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which stipulates sanctioning vessels that engaged in pipe-laying for the TurkStream project as well as punitive measures against companies working to complete the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The bill is now on the way to the White House where President Donald Trump is set to sign it into law.

The bill also sanctions Turkey for its acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system and implies prohibiting the transfer of F-35 jets to the country​​​. Addressing the matter, the Turkish leader said these issues are “closed” and warned against treating Ankara as a “tribal nation.”

Reference:

https://www.rt.com/business/477097-russia-turkey-turkstream-launch/

https://www.rt.com/business/476485-erdogan-turkstream-retaliatory-sanctions-us/