Turkey to approve construction of South Stream pipeline

Turkey will grant permission for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline across its Black Sea sector, a Russian government official said on Wednesday citing a draft bilateral protocol.

The protocol is due to be signed by the Russian and Turkish premiers, Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara on Thursday.

"The parties will ensure the conditions for approval of the construction," Yury Ushakov, a deputy government chief of staff, said.

Ushakov declined to specify the date for the commencement of the gas pipeline construction, saying it would be agreed by both premiers.

The South Stream project is designed to annually pump 31 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and onto other European countries along the bed of the Black Sea, with the pipeline's capacity expected to be eventually increased to 63 billion cubic meters.

Ushakov also said that both premiers would discuss a Western-backed pipeline project, in which Turkey was participating.

The Nabucco pipeline project, estimated at 7.9 billion euros ($11 billion), is designed to pump Central Asian gas via Turkey to Austria and Germany through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The pipeline, intended to bypass Russia, is due to go on stream in 2014.

The Nabucco project is seen as a rival to Russia's South Stream gas pipeline, which is estimated at costing around 25 billion euros ($35 billion).

Ushakov also said that Russia and Turkey would set up a working group on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline intended to pump crude to Europe.

Turkey has repeatedly invited Russia to join the project launched in 2007 and due to be completed in 2011 but has not received a positive response.

The $1.5-billion pipeline, which is being built by the Turkish holding Calik Energy and Italy's ENI, will extend 700 kilometers (435 miles) through Turkey from the Black Sea port of Samsun to the port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.

The pipeline's projected capacity will be 60-70 million tons of oil a year (1.2-1.4 million bbl/d).

The project is designed to reduce the oil transportation load on the Black Sea Strait of Bosporus and the Dardanelles on the Marmara Sea, which handles some 150 million tons (1.1 billion bbl) annually.

Russia asks Turkey to join South Stream project - Sechin

Russia has proposed to Turkey that it join the South Stream natural gas pipeline project, a first deputy premier said after talks with Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz on Wednesday.

"We want decisions on this project to be conducted in a transparent manner," Igor Sechin told journalists, adding that he hopes Turkey will consider the proposal. The pipeline, which will link Russia to Europe via the Black Sea, is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

Sechin said that various routes of gas supplies, including the EU-backed Nabucco project, were discussed.

"The more opportunities to supply gas to consumers, the better," he said.

South Stream is a rival to the Nabucco pipeline, designed to bring gas from Central Asia and the Caspian to Europe, bypassing Russia. The European Union, wary of its growing energy dependence on Russia, is backing the project despite the current economic crisis.

A deal reached on the weekend between Russia's Gazprom and Azerbaijan under which Russia will buy huge volumes of gas from the Caspian state's largest gas field, Shah Deniz, to supply the South Stream pipeline, dealt a severe blow to the Nabucco project.

Sechin also he had also discussed with Yildiz reducing the cost of building a nuclear power plant in Turkey. Russia is taking part in a tender to build Turkey's first nuclear plant.