Turkish Stream Deal Could Be Signed Monday - Rusisan Energy Min

The final agreement to implement the Turkish Stram project may be sealed by Moscow and Ankara officials as early as Monday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has told Turkish daily H?rriyet.

In Novak's words, "there is such a possibility", and the document could be signed during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Istanbul on October 10.

He has described Turkish Stream and Akkuyu nuclear plant as "crucial projects that will revive [Russia and Turkey's] ties" that "need to be completed and become operational" if economic and trade ties, severed between December 2015 an August of this year, are to be normalized.

Putin will be attending the 23rd World Energy Congress on Monday and hold a bilateral meeting with his counterpart on the sidelines of the event, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.

Turkish Stream was announced in December 2014 as a substitute to South Stream, a gas pipeline project that was to carry gas under the Black Sea and via Bulgaria into Central Europe, but was dropped by Putin, who cited EU opposition.

The new project was called into question last year by disagreement over gas prices and was later stalled by the diplomatic spat of Ankara and Moscow over the downed Russian warplane in November.

Novak, however, voices confidence that "a common path will be found" over gas pricing.

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