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“The launch of TurkStream is a history-making event. Firstly, taking into account exports via Blue Stream, we have paved the way for direct transit-free supplies to fully meet Turkey’s needs for Gazprom’s gas. Secondly, Europe now has a new and reliable route to receive Russian pipeline gas.
There is no doubt that, thanks to all of this, our cooperation with our Turkish and European partners is shifting to a new level and is going to help improve energy security in the region,”
Alexey Miller
Chairman of the Management Committee,
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors.
GAZPROM
A grand opening ceremony for the TurkStream gas pipeline took place yesterday. TurkStream is a mega project that directly connects the large gas reserves in Russia to the Turkish gas transportation network, to provide reliable energy supplies for Turkey, south and southeast Europe.
The offshore component of the system consists of two parallel pipelines running through the Black Sea. The pipelines enter the water near Anapa, on the Russian coast, and come ashore on the Turkish coast in the Thrace region, near the town of Kiyikoy. From the receiving terminal in Kiyikoy, one of the two underground onshore pipelines will connect to the existing Turkish gas network at Luleburgaz. The other pipeline will continue to the Turkish-European border, where it ends.
Attending the event were Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey, Aleksandar Vucic, President of the Republic of Serbia, Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Fatih Donmez, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. Burhan Ozcan, Chairman of the Board and General Manager at BOTAS, and Oleg Aksyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee – Head of Department at Gazprom, joined the event via teleconference.
The gas pipeline has two strings with a combined throughput capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters. The first string will deliver gas to Turkey, while the second string is intended for gas transit to southern and southeastern Europe through Turkish territory.
The pipelaying for TurkStream took 15 months and was completed ahead of schedule in November 2018. The construction of the receiving terminal near the Kiyikoy settlement in Turkey was finished in 2019.
Design
The starting point for feeding gas into TurkStream is the Russkaya compressor station (CS), which forms part of Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System and is located near Anapa. With a capacity of 224 MW, the CS maintains the pressure required for transmitting gas along the pipeline’s two strings through more than 930 kilometers up to the Turkish coast where gas enters the receiving terminal.
The TurkStream project is unique from a technological standpoint: for the first time ever, a pipe of 813 millimeters in diameter was laid at a depth of 2,200 meters. The two offshore pipelines are made up of thousands of individual pipe joints of 12 meters in length.
The pipes have been made from 39 millimeters of specially designed carbon manganese steel plates so that it can withstand the huge pressure under the sea. Pipes laid in shallow waters closer to the shore have been coated in concrete for added stability and protection against marine activities.
When operational, TurkStream will offer a reliable energy supply for Turkey and Europe by delivering 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
Necessity
The Nord Stream pipeline has been in operation since 2011 and guarantees uninterrupted gas flows to Germany and other northern European countries. Since 2003, gas has been transported directly to Turkey through the Blue Stream pipeline.
Gas deliveries to the west of Turkey and a number of southern and southeastern European countries currently rely on an older system which runs via Ukraine. Over the past 20 years, lack of investments in its modernization have made this system less reliable, posing a risk for those countries that depend on it for all their energy.
Gas demand for European Union and Turkey is projected to reach about 541 Billion Cubic Meters annually according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2016 Outlook. With production decreasing from about 260BCM in 2014 to 194 BMC by 2030 in the region, imports will account for 327 BCM’s compared to 202 BCM’s 2014. A deficit of about 125 BCM’s will exist hence the need for a reliable source and route.
“The launch of TurkStream is a history-making event. Firstly, taking into account exports via Blue Stream, we have paved the way for direct transit-free supplies to fully meet Turkey’s needs for Gazprom’s gas. Secondly, Europe now has a new and reliable route to receive Russian pipeline gas.
There is no doubt that, thanks to all of this, our cooperation with our Turkish and European partners is shifting to a new level and is going to help improve energy security in the region,” said Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors GAZPROM.
Benefits
The TurkStream Project in full operation will not only ensures the reliability of energy supplies to Turkey and Europe, but also contributes to Turkey’s economic development through the resources it uses for the construction of the project. In addition, TurkStream supports the development of the Kiyikoy area via local social investments.