Work on Gazprom’s TurkStream is 90% complete and the pipeline should go online before the end of the year, the Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom said after it invited bank analysts on a trip to inspect the construction work, Ahval News reported.
Analysts visited the Russkaya compressor station in Russia last week, the starting point of the TurkStream pipeline, and the receiving TurkStream terminal in Turkey.
Gazprom also held a roundtable discussion at which the company and independent experts (IHS Markit, S&P Global Platts, and EPPEN Consulting) provided their views and outlooks on the European gas market.
The capacity of the Turkish Stream project is 31.5bcm. It will deliver gas from Russia’s southern region to Turkey and then on to southern Europe.
“Gazprom has already finished construction of both the Russkaya compressor station and two offshore pipelines, while construction works at the receiving terminal in Turkey were 86% completed as of June 21,” VTB Capital analysts who went on the trip said in a note.
TurkStream is part of a trident of pipelines running from Russia to Europe to supply gas to Gazprom’s main customers. It expands the southern route and is an addition to the Druzhba pipeline that runs through Ukraine and has been the main conduit since Soviet times. More controversial is the construction of the 55bn cubic metre (bcm) Nord Stream 2 pipeline that runs under the Baltics and has been the subject of bitter political disputes.
Gazprom reiterated its plan to bring the pipeline online by the end of this year.
The company also reaffirmed the capital expenditure forecasts for the project: the subsea section will cost more than $7.9 billion, while investments into onshore pipelines are to reach $450 million for the pipeline section in Turkey and $1.58 billion for the Serbian section, according to VTB Capital.
