Russian minister: First line of Turkish Stream pipeline may be built in December 2019

“This will be most probably in 2019, speaking about the deadline. Construction will be completed at that time, considering that the draft roadmap so provides [this timeline],” Novak was quoted as saying by Russian TASS news agency.

Turkey intends to speed up implementation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project in cooperation with Russia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Aug. 9. 

“The Turkish Stream project with Russia will be realized swiftly following a thorough review,” he said.

Russian gas giant Gazprom had already started negotiations with the Turkish side on the resumption of construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline, Novak told journalists on Aug. 9. 

“They have already begun today. The head of Gazprom Alexei Miller talked to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Berat Albayrak and with representatives of the companies,” Novak said. 

He added that the ministry has already sent the project’s plan for the construction of the gas pipeline to Turkey and it was confirmed during the negotiations that the Turkish partners were interested in cooperating on the project.

“Today we have once again received confirmation that the Turkish side is interested,” Novak said, as quoted by TASS. 

He added that the Russian government wanted to speed up processing the intergovernmental agreement and a “road map.”

Russia had prepared and handed over the Turkish Stream infrastructure development roadmap to Turkey, Novak said. 

“We have already prepared the roadmap - the detailed plan and schedule of activities for infrastructure development,” Novak said.

The draft intergovernmental agreement was expected to be agreed to and signed in October, he added.

Construction of the first line of the Turkish Stream will start after all required construction and survey permits for Turkish territorial waters were obtained, he added.