TurkStream 1 on Track for 2019 Start
Netherlands registered South Stream Transport, the company developing the 31.5bn m³/yr TurkStream pipeline, has begun construction of the landfall section of the first 15.75bn m³/yr string, and expects to be able to start gas deliveries to Turkey by the end of 2019 as planned, it said July 23.
Laybarge offshore Igneada
(Credit: David O'Byrne)
The company announced that it had begun work excavating a 2.4-km trench up to the landfall point just north of the Turkish village of Kiyikoy, into which the final section of line will be laid and then buried. The line will connect with the project's gas receiving station, construction of which began in January.
Construction of the overland section of the line, from the coast to Luleburgaz, which will connect with the existing west-east main transit line belonging to Turkish transit grid operator Botas, has not started.
Botas two weeks ago opened a tender for the construction of the 69-km link line, using 48-inch diameter pipe, with initial bids to be received by July 6. Land purchase for the line has been concluded and the tender itself is scheduled to be concluded July 31. No date for the start of construction was given in the tender documents but it must be completed within 420 days.
This first string will be used by Gazprom to supply gas to Turkey to replace the 14bn m³/yr which are now delivered by the Transbalkan pipeline from Russia and Ukraine and then through Romania and Bulgaria, which is scheduled to be phased out. Of the 14bn m³/yr capacity, 4bn m³/yr is taken by Botas with the remainder contracted to six private companies. Botas is also expected to take the additional 1.75bn m³/yr that Turkstream will deliver.
The second string of TurkStream will carry a further 15.75bn m³/yr for export to Europe, through the overland section tendered by Botas and via a planned second section from Luleburgaz to Turkey's western borders.
Ankara and Moscow announced last month that they had finalised plans for the final section but no details have been released and it is still unclear whether the line will terminate at the Turkey-Greece border or the Turkey-Bulgaria border, or at a point close to both.
One industry source this summer told NGW that the second line will go subsea from Russia to Bulgaria, avoiding Turkey altogether, following the South Stream route. However, the EC faulted the host country's procurement process for the South Stream pipeline, and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, abandoned the project some years ago, the only remaining trace of the project being the TurkStream developer's name.