CCTV news client In mid-October, Turkey and Russia agreed to jointly build Europe’s largest natural gas hub in Turkey. In the future, Europe can obtain Russian natural gas through Turkey. It is reported that the relevant project is likely to be located in the Thrace region of Turkey, and will be expanded on the basis of the existing “Turkish Creek” natural gas pipeline project.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently revealed that after a preliminary assessment, the natural gas hub project that Turkey and Russia plan to jointly build is likely to be located in the Thrace region, which is located in the northwest of Turkey, next to the Black Sea, and far from the European Union. Member states Bulgaria and Greece are also close by. And this is also the area where the “Turkey Creek” natural gas pipeline project belongs.
New project could build on ‘Turkey Creek’
“Turkish Creek” is a pipeline project for Russia to transport natural gas to Turkey and southern Europe. It currently includes two parallel pipelines from the coast of Russia through the bottom of the Black Sea to Kiykoy, a city in northwestern Turkey. In Kiiköy, the pipeline is divided into two lines, the first supplying the Turkish market and the second supplying gas to southern and eastern Europe. Earlier, the Russian ambassador to Turkey revealed to the media that Russia and Turkey intend to transfer the natural gas transported from Russia to Europe via the “Beixi” pipeline to “Turkish Stream”. Some insiders predict that the new natural gas hub planned by Turkey and Russia is likely to be expanded on the basis of “Turkish Creek”.
Gazprom previously said it was ready to build more gas pipelines to Turkey on the bottom of the Black Sea. Experts pointed out that if only one or two pipelines are built on the existing basis of “Turkey Creek”, it will be far from reaching the scale required by the natural gas hub.
Energy expert Ivan Starodubtsev, chairman of the Turkey-Russia Project Development Association: In fact, before the “Turkish Creek” planned to build two pipelines from Russia to Europe through Turkey, and two pipelines from Russia to the Turkish consumer market . Currently “Turkey Creek” has only one route to Europe, and one route to Turkey. If two more pipelines were to be called an energy hub, I’m not sure if that’s the right word, since it’s an extension of “Turkey Creek” at best.
A roadmap for project implementation is expected to be drawn up by the end of this year
Experts believe that even if two more natural gas pipelines are built, the gas transmission capacity of “Turkey Creek” is still very limited. To become the largest gas hub in Europe, more infrastructure needs to be built, the construction period is long and the cost is high. According to Turkish media reports, Turkey and Russia are currently conducting a comprehensive evaluation on the project design, construction planning and marketing of the natural gas hub, and plan to formulate a project implementation roadmap by the end of this year at the earliest.
(Original title: Turkey and Russia will jointly build a new gas supply hub Turkish President: The site may be in Thrace)