Construction of the TurkStream Offshore Gas Pipeline Project's gas-receiving terminal at Kıyıköy – Turkey's main onshore section – is 95% complete, the project company announced Wednesday.
All works are on schedule and the first gas is expected to flow by the end of 2019, the company said in a statement.
"More than 1,700 workers, including 100 locals, are currently directly or indirectly employed at the construction project," the statement said.
"Once operational, the receiving terminal will measure gas flow, temperature, pressure and composition, before the gas is fed into the Turkish gas grid," it added.
Earlier last month, Gazprom said the landfall facilities in Russia are 99% completed. Both offshore pipelines connecting the two shores are also complete.
TurkStream will have the capacity to transit 31.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year, which is equal to the energy demand of 15 million homes, according to the company.
The project consists of two lines across the Black Sea, the first of which will serve Turkey with a capacity of 15.75 bcm, while the second line is planned to serve Europe.
Each pipeline is 930 kilometers in length, laid at depths reaching 2,200 meters. Of the two onshore lines, Turkey's state-owned oil and gas trading company, the Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), is constructing the onshore line to connect to the Turkish grid and a BOTAŞ-Gazprom joint venture is building the second line toward Europe.
The project is the biggest-diameter offshore gas pipeline in the world laid at such depths. The world's biggest construction vessel, the Pioneering Spirit, carried out the deep-sea pipe laying.
The Kıyıköy receiving terminal, located approximately 100 kilometers west of Istanbul, is one of the two receiving terminals, located on the Turkish side, while the other facility is located in Anapa, a port town on the Russian Black Sea coast.
