Turkey begins fulfilling obligations under gas project with Russia

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Turkey and Russia have come to an agreement over creating a gas hub that will link the two through Europe, and Ankara has already started on its part of the work, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said on Tuesday.

"First, we will look at our part of the job. We started it. Friends work in Botas, Epias. We have always had the goal of becoming a gas and trade center," Donmez told reporters.

"An agreement has been reached regarding negotiations. First, we need to finish the work on our side," he added.

TurkStream is an energy infrastructure project that spans 930 km, starts in Russia, and extends into Turkey, supplying the latter with Russian gas.

Despite the new EU sanctions imposed in September on TurkStream operator South Stream Transport B.V., which revoked the pipeline's operator of its export license, South Stream Transport issued a statement saying gas transportation would continue uninterrupted.

On October 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow could redirect gas transit from the Nord Stream pipelines, damaged by an explosion classified by Russia as an act of terrorism, to Turkey. Unprecedented damage was dealt to three out of four Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin touched on the issue of the attacks, saying they were acts of international terrorism.

On October 14, Erdogan said the two leaders instructed relevant institutions of the two countries to quickly begin work on the idea of creating a hub in Turkey for gas supplies to Europe.

So far, there isn't a full understanding of how and to which clients the Turkish hub's gas will be supplied, not to mention the exact location in which the hub will be built.

As for the cost of the gas hub in Turkey, sources said that it is too early to speak about the cost range. The price of the infrastructure and execution will be uncovered after agreeing on all the details of the project.