Gazprom confirms first gas via TurkStream by December

Russia's Gazprom expects to send its first gas through the TurkStream natural gas pipeline to Turkey by the end of December, Gazprom's deputy chairman Vitaly Markelov said late Tuesday. He confirmed that the sub-sea section to transport 31.5 billion cubic meters per year from Russia to Turkey and Russia's land section have been constructed while Turkey's onshore section is nearly 73% complete. The TurkStream project consists of two lines across the Black Sea, the first of which will serve Turkey with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters, while the second line is planned to serve Europe. Each pipeline is 930 kilometers in length, and lays at depths of up to 2,200 meters. The project is the biggest-diameter offshore gas pipeline in the world laid at such depths. The deep-sea pipelaying was carried out by Pioneering Spirit, the world's biggest construction vessel.