Russia, Greece Sign Memorandum on Construction of Turkish Stream Pipeline

Russia and Greece signed on Friday an intergovernmental cooperation memorandum on the construction of a continuation of the Turkish Stream pipeline on Greek territory.

The document was signed by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Greek counterpart Panagiotis Lafazanis during the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Novak stated that Greece will receive a loan for the construction of the section of the projected natural gas pipeline running on its territory, TASS news agency reports.

Lafazanis noted that the construction of the Greek section of Turkish Stream, which is worth EUR 2 B, will be financed at halves by a subsidiary of the Russian VEB bank and a Greek company.

Novak revealed on Thursday that Russian companies and banks may participate in funding the ground infrastructure of Turkish Stream in Greece.

Turkish Stream was devised as an alternative to South Stream, which had been cancelled in December 2014.

Most of Turkish Stream will run under the Black Sea and will coincide with the planned route of South Stream.

However the large-scale construction of infrastructure in Europe, which had been foreseen under South Stream, will be limited to a gas hub on the border between Turkey and Greece.

The remaining part of the infrastructure will have to be built by the European customers of Gazprom, which is responsible for constructing the pipeline.

Earlier, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller had announced that the construction of the first stretch of Turkish Stream would start in late June.

The pipeline is scheduled to become operational in December 2016 and its projected annual capacity is 63 billion cubic meters.

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