The state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Company (BOTAŞ) reached an agreement on financing the Turkish Stream pipeline with the Russian state-owned gas and oil giant Gazprom, the Turkish company's General Manager Burhan Özcan said Monday.
"We have already agreed with them on the issue [of financing]. However, I cannot disclose any figures, in what percentage ratio will we do this," Özcan said, speaking at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.
The BOTAŞ head said that the process of obtaining permits for the second line of TurkStream continues in a positive way, adding that "there are no pitfalls in it."
Özcan also confirmed that the land section of the pipeline would pass through northwestern Turkey's Kırklareli province near Kıyıköy village.
"Despite various rumors, there are no changes to this geography. However, one cannot say anything about whether there will be a way out in this village or somewhere nearby. There are engineering works going on both in the sea and on land, there are no problems here," Özcan said.
TurkStream is a transit-free export gas pipeline, which will not only stretch across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey but will further extend to Turkey's borders with neighboring countries.
The 1,100-kilometer TurkStream project is slated to deliver 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year through four parallel lines. An estimated 47 billion cubic meters will reach the Greek-Turkish border. The remaining 16 billion cubic meters of gas are to be allocated for Turkey's domestic use. Russia currently sends natural gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and Trans-Balkan pipelines.
The pipeline will start from the southern Russian town of Anapa on the Black Sea coast and will be laid on a 900-kilometer route under the Black Sea to reach the Thrace region of Turkey along the Black Sea coast.
