PRESS: Gazprom starts laying 2nd thread of Turkish Stream pipe

MOSCOW, Jul 19 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom has started laying the second thread of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline, Vedomosti business daily reported on Wednesday quoting a counteragent of Gazprom’s contractor and a government official, although the company said it is still building the first thread.

Sources told the business daily that about 20–25 kilometers of the pipeline have been laid on the bottom of the Black Sea. Kommersant said that pipe laying ship Audacia of Allseas company is laying the pipeline. Marinetraffic.com Web site says that the ship is close to the Mali Utrish village and is moving at a speed of 0.10–0.15 knots on the route of the first thread of the Turkish Stream, which corresponds to the speed of laying a pipe.

Allseas data show that Audacia’s carrying capacity amounts to 14,000 tonnes of pipes. Kommersant said that ships Highland Navigator and Baccara replenish the Audacia’s pipe stocks. marinetraffic.com showed the two ships made two voyages from the port of Anapa to Audacia from Monday evening to Tuesday evening. Bulgarian cargo truck Eudoxia with a load of pipes also arrived to Anapa on the night between Monday and Tuesday, the business daily said.

An Allseas representative told Kommersant that the company has constructed 100 kilometers of the pipeline and did not specify whether construction of the second thread was launched. A Gazprom representative said that Audacia is carrying out technical works, but did not elaborate. Gazprom said in a statement that the company is focused on constructing the first thread.

The pipeline will consist of two branches with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. One of them, to be finished in 2018, is to supply gas to Turkey, another one is to transit gas to the European countries through Turkey and is to be finished in 2019.

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