A working visit of Gazprom’s delegation to Turkey started yesterday; the Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee Yuri Komarov headed the delegation. The delegation held discussions with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Hilmi Guler and the Botas representatives. The parties discussed a wide range of issues of collaboration in the gas sector. One of the key topics was the situation around the Blue Stream project.
The parties coordinated the general approach to the problem of gas pricing and confirmed mutual intention to resume gas supply through the Blue Stream pipeline on a permanent basis since August 1, 2003. At the same time, the parties came to an understanding that deliveries of Russian gas to Turkey would be brought about on competitive terms not different from those for the gas supply to other European countries. The parties also agreed on suspension of the arbitration process initiated by Gazexport in relation to the contract for gas delivery within the frames of the Blue Stream project.
Consultation on the expert level will be continued in the next week. According to the plans, another round of negotiations with the management of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and Botas company will be held in the end of August.
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The Blue Stream is a gas main designed for direct delivery of Russian gas to Turkey through the Black Sea bottom. It was the first time in the world practice when the pipeline was laid at the depth up to 2150 m in corrosive hydrogen sulfide medium.
On December 15, 1997 an Intergovernmental Agreement was signed between Russia and Turkey. Within the frames of the Agreement Gazprom signed a commercial contract with Botas (Turkish gas company) for delivery of 365 bcm of gas to Turkey through the Blue Stream project during the 25-year period.
Pipeline construction was started in February 2000. Construction of the 396-km long subsea section of the pipeline was started on 14th of September 2001 and was completed as soon as in May of the next year. The entire Blue Stream pipeline was commissioned on the 30th of December, 2002.
Under the contract, the minimum gas withdrawal by Botas should have reached the level of 800 mln cu m in the second half of 2003. On the whole, the total actual volume of gas withdrawn since the start of the year amounted to 200 mln cu m. The schedule of gas deliveries through the Blue Stream pipeline for the period of 2004 – 2010 was made up as follows: 2004 – 4 bcm, 2005 – 6 bcm, 2006 – 8 bcm, 2007 – 10 bcm, 2008 – 12 bcm, 2009 – 14 bcm and 2010 – 16 bcm.