Gazprom in talks with Ankara over supplying gas to Europe

Russian energy giant Gazprom and its Turkish partners are currently in talks on how the TurkStream pipeline can be used for deliveries to the European markets, said Elena Burmistrova, the chief executive of the Russian holding's export arm Gazprom Export.

"We are now in talks on the issue with our Turkish colleagues," she said at a conference with investment banks when asked how the pipeline will be used for European deliveries, Russian news agency TASS reported yesterday.

Earlier, Burmistrova said that Gazprom might consider delivering some of TurkStream's gas further to Europe on the condition that the demand for gas in the country continues to decline, according to the report.

However, they continue to be optimistic about Turkey's natural gas consumption, she added.

Commercial deliveries via the TurkStream pipeline commenced on Jan. 1. It consists of two 930-kilometer offshore lines stretching from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea, and two separate onshore lines.

Half of the pipeline's capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) is allocated for Turkey's domestic market, while the other half is supposed to carry Russian natural gas to the European countries through Bulgaria.

In June, a Hungarian firm announced it would join the TurkStream project with a 10-year development plan that includes the construction of a new Serbian-Hungarian gas interconnector, with a capacity of 6 bcm annually.
Gas purchases in Turkey have declined significantly since 2019 for several internal reasons, including excessive supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Ankara imported 45.3 bcm of natural gas last year, paying approximately $12 billion to pipeline exporters Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as LNG suppliers...