Gazprom CEO: Only Turkish Stream may remove EU gas transit risks

MOSCOW, Jan 14 (PRIME) -- With the elimination of the South Stream project Europe cannot remove the risk of Ukrainian gas transit in any other way than to join the new Turkish Stream pipeline, Russian gas giant Gazprom’s CEO Alexei Miller told reporters Wednesday following his meeting with the E.U. Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

“The Turkish Stream pipeline is the only route that can deliver 63 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, which are currently supplied through Ukraine. There are no other options. Our European partners are informed about that and now their goal is to construct necessary gas transportation infrastructure from the border of Turkey and Greece,” Miller said.

The E.U. has several years to build the infrastructure. “It is a very tight schedule. If the E.U. wants to meet the deadline – it must start the construction of new main pipelines today. Otherwise these amounts of gas may end up in other markets.”

Transit risks for the union still remain, as Ukraine was unable to purchase the amount of gas it needs in November-December 2014 due to its financial difficulties, he added.

Russia cancelled building the South Stream pipeline which was supposed to carry Russian gas to Europe, bypassing Ukraine on December 1, and President Vladimir Putin blamed the E.U. unwillingness to permit the construction for the project on its closing. Instead, Russia decided to construct the Turkish Stream, a new pipeline that will run to the Turkey-Greece border under the Black Sea.

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