Turkey approves TurkStream EIA

The Turkish environment ministry has approved the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the offshore and landfall section of Russia's planned 31.5bn m³/yr capacity TurkStream gas pipeline, the ministry said October 2.

The approval was confirmed October 3 by South Stream Transport. the Netherlands based Gazprom subsidiary which owns the offshore section of the TurkStream project.

The EIA covers the laying of two parallel pipes of 15.75bn m³/yr through 270 km of Turkey's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, a 2.5-km landfall section  just west of Kiyikoy on Turkey's European Black Sea coast, which will be buried, and a 2 km overland section, also buried, to a receiving station whose construction is also covered in the report.

The approval paves the way for the developers to apply for the necessary construction permits for the line, and for construction of onshore facilities to start.

The two remaining sections of TurkStream, the section linking the receiving station with Turkey's existing Botas operated west-East gas transit system at Luleburgaz, and a section running from Luleburgaz south west to the Greece border are both being developed by Botas. Building the first offshore sections of TurkStream began close to the Russian coast in May this year.

South Stream Transport has yet to indicate when it expects to begin work on the onshore section and facilities at Kiyikoy.

The first line will enable Gazprom to send gas directly to Turkey, rather than going through the 14bn m³/yr TransBalkan lines that carry gas from the Ukrainian border through Romania and Bulgaria. There has been speculation that the second line will have a spur line running subsea to Bulgaria.

David O'Byrne