The existing and planned natural gas pipelines between Turkey and Russia are a testament to 30 years of successful cooperation, said Alexey Miller, chairman of the management committee of Russian Gazprom on Thursday.
Miller told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview that 'existing pipelines point to success of the direct route model'
Based on Turkey's increasing energy demand, the TurkStream project, similar to the Blue Stream is designed to continue to supply reliable natural gas to Turkey and European partners, Miller said.
Miller also lauded Turkey's LNG strategy to increase capacity and investments, which he said would create new opportunities for the country as the LNG trade volume surges.
Miller asserted the most economical, easy and secure way to send Russian gas to Turkey is through modern direct route pipelines, 'especially the Blue Stream [gas pipeline project] that demonstrates this model's success.'
The Blue Stream natural gas pipeline project marked its 15th anniversary in 2018.
A new record was set in 2017 for Russian gas exports to Turkey. Turkey received supplies of 29 bcm of gas, or 1.7 bcm more, equivalent to an increase of 6.2 percent compared to 2014 when the previous maximum of 27.3 bcm was recorded, according to Gazprom's data.
Deliveries via Blue Stream also achieved their maximum in 2017 when 15.8 bcm of gas was transmitted through the pipeline, equivalent approximately to 55 percent of the total Russian gas supplies to the Turkish market.
- Turkey's gas investments
Miller also praised Turkey's energy strategy on LNG and investments on it.
He said that Turkey's strategy to increase its LNG capacity and investments will create new opportunities for the country as global trading volumes of LNG surge.
Turkey began operations of its second floating liquefied natural gas unit (FSRU) with 20 million cubic meters of send-out capacity per day in February.
Turkey's first FSRU was launched in Aliaga, Izmir in December 2016 at a time when the country needed extra gas capacity to meet the increased consumption due to the very cold weather conditions.
The first unit, which Turkish companies Kolin and Kalyon operate, also has 20 million cubic meters of send-out capacity per day.
Turkey receives natural gas mainly from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
According to Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak in February, Turkey has already increased its daily send-out capacity from 190 million cubic meters in 2015 to 288 million cubic meters by the end of 2017.
'The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline project (TANAP) will start delivering gas in the middle of this year while the first gas from TurkStream will come in 2019,' Albayrak said, adding that with these projects, Turkey will become an intersection point for eight natural gas pipeline projects.
TANAP, with around $8.5 billion of investment, will deliver 6 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas to Turkey and 10 billion to Europe. The European part of the project is expected to become operational in 2020.
The TurkStream project is a direct pipeline from Russia to Turkey with 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas capacity set aside for Turkey's use while a second line with the same 15.75 billion cubic meters of capacity is planned for Europe's needs.
- US LNG and its impacts
Miller said that U.S. LNG shipments have not made a significant change to the European gas market.
'Since the shipments started from the U.S. Sabine Pass, it sent 4 bcm of gas to Europe. Over the same period of time, Gazprom exported 370 bcm of gas. The figures speak for themselves.' Miller said.
He says that towards 2022, LNG prices in Europe and the U.S. you would see that cost of US LNG will be much higher than European natural gas prices.
'This does not mean that there will be no new shipments from the U.S. in the future. However, it's too early to say that LNG will cause significant changes in the European market,' Miller argued.
Russia sells more than 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe per year.
According to the Gazprom's latest statistics, the country exported more than 190 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe and Turkey in 2017 - a second successive annual record.
Reporting By E. Gurkan Abay in Moscow
Writing By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr