Turkish Stream, South Stream Costs Comparable, Energy Official Says

The cost of the future Turkish Stream gas pipeline project is comparable to the cost of the abandoned South Stream project, according to Gurkan Kumbaroglu, President-Elect of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE).

"We have not yet finished all the calculations. I think the cost is comparable to the cost of the South Stream project," Kumbaroglu said at the Valdai Club conference on European energy security in Berlin on Monday.

The cost of the South Stream project, designed to carry Russian natural gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further west to Europe, was estimated at EUR 15.5 B.

Announcing the project's suspension in December 2014, Russian gas giant Gazprom said it would build a pipeline from Russia under the Black Sea to Turkey instead that will be able to deliver gas to Europe via a distribution centre at Turkey's border with Greece.

According to Kumbaroglu, the Turkish Stream is a more practical project compared to the concept of the South Stream project from an economic point of view.

"Turkish Stream is beneficial for all parties - the EU, Turkey, and Russia," Kumbaroglu said.

The so-called Valdai Club, named for the lake on the shores of which its first meeting was held, is a gathering of Western and Russian analysts, journalists and officials, some of whom are critical of the Kremlin. 

IAEE is a United States-based worldwide non-profit professional organization.

Meanwhile,  Russia's Ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said on the sidelines of the conference that the European Commission should have no formal reasons to object to the construction of Turkish Stream but is interested in maintaining the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine's territory for political reasons.

"I...