Turkey to restart imports of Russian gas

Gazprom has received a notification from the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry on the reestablishment of gas supplies within the framework of the Blue Stream project as of August 1, 2003, a source in the Russian gas giant told RBC. Questions of Gazprom-Turkey cooperation will be thoroughly discussed at a meeting of Gazprom Deputy CEO Yury Komarov and Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler in Ankara on July 30, 2003. The interlocutor pointed out that Russian gas exports to Turkey were likely to reach the amount stipulated in a bilateral agreement, which was some 800m cubic meters of gas every six months.

As reported earlier, Turkey stopped taking gas out of the Blue Stream pipeline in the middle of March 2003 referring to a low demand for it and started negotiating the changes in the provisions of the agreement on gas supplies. The provisions of the take-or-pay contract expired on July 1, however Turkey did not pump gas out of the pipeline. This means that by the end of this year, the Turkish company Botas will have to pay for supplies of 800m cubic meters of gas, regardless of whether it has taken this volume of gas or not.

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