Russian oil producer Gazprom has almost halved the planned capacity of its TurkStream gas pipeline project, according to the company’s chief exec.
The expected capacity has been reduced from 63billion cubic metres (bcm) to 32bcm.
Chief executive Alexei Miller said Gazprom now plans to supply a smaller amount because it also wants to expand the Nord Stream gas pipeline which runs on the bed of the Baltic Sea to Germany.
The TurkStream pipeline is an alternative to Russia’s South Stream pipeline project to bring gas to Europe without crossing Ukraine, which was dropped last year due to objections from the European Commision.
Russia has long sought to circumnavigate Ukraine to pipe its gas to Europe because of pricing disagreements, which have led to disruptions in supplies to the European Union. Currently around 40% of Russian gas goes to Europe via Ukraine.
Miller said: “Speaking about designed capacity … we can talk that it will be created at volumes of up to 32 bcm.”
Gazprom had originally planned to supply Europe with a total 63 bcm by 2020 via TurkStream, with the first line of 15.75 bcm designed for Turkey and the rest flowing to Greece onwards to Europe.
Gazprom and a number of European energy companies have agreed to build stage 3 and 4 of Nord Stream, with capacity of 55 billion cubic metres per year, which should double the existing Nord Stream-1.
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