Turkey will launch TurkStream natural gas pipeline next month, the country's energy and natural resources minister said on Friday, APA reports.
"We will launch TurkStream on Jan. 8. This will make us indispensable to international markets, with natural gas pipelines coming from both the east and north," said Fatih Donmez.
The Nord Stream project – operational since 2011 with an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters – brings Russian gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea.
The Nord Stream 2, spearheaded by Russia's state-owned energy company Gazprom, is nearly completed and has the same annual capacity, running almost parallel to the first pipeline route.
Together, they will meet a quarter of the annual gas demands of the European continent.
Already having launched the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) – which delivers natural gas from Azerbaijan through Turkey and on to Greece, the first stop in its European leg, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) – Dönmez said Turkey would now, together with the Turk Stream pipeline, play a key role in securing Europe's gas supply.
Dönmez added that the country had been investing in domestic renewable energy, with growing interest and investments set to steadily continue into 2020.
The TurkStream natural gas pipeline has a total capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters, of which the first line will carry a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Turkish consumers. The second line will carry another 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe via Turkey.
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