Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anton Inyutsyn announced yesterday that fifty kilometers of the project have already been completed. The project has just started and it will be completed in 2019.

Speaking at the World Petroleum Congress, Inyutsyn told Anadolu Agency that the construction of the TurkStream nautral gas pipeline project which started last month is progressing and 50 kilometers has been completed.

The TurkStream pipeline 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 border with neighboring countries.

One line is expected to supply the Turkish market, while a second line will carry gas to southern and southeastern Europe. Each line will have the throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also examined the Pioneering Spirit vessel, which will carry out the construction of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline's offshore section and discussed the recent energy cooperation between Turkey and Russia with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on a phone call he made on the vessel.