Russian giant Gazprom said the construction of the offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline in the Black Sea has been completed by the pipelaying vessel Pioneering Spirit.
“Construction of TurkStream – a new gas pipeline connecting Russia and Turkey via the Black Sea – is entering its final stage. The work is well ahead of schedule: the offshore section of the gas pipeline was completed as early as today instead of in December as planned earlier,” Gazprom’s head Alexey Miller said.
He added that in late 2019, the gas pipeline will be brought into operation.
TurkStream gas pipeline stretches across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and further to Turkey’s border with neighboring countries. The first string of TurkStream is intended for Turkish consumers, while the second string will deliver gas to southern and southeastern Europe.
Each string will have the throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
South Stream Transport is responsible for the construction of the gas pipeline’s offshore section, while the construction contractor for both strings of the TurkStream gas pipeline’s offshore section is Allseas Group, that owns the Pioneering Spirit vessel.
In Russia, a landfall has been built near the town of Anapa and the ongoing start-up operations will be finished in 2018. In Turkey, a receiving terminal is being constructed near the settlement of Kiyikoy.