Political Situation in Syria Not to Impact Turkish Stream, Says Gazprom

Political situation in Syria will not impact progress of Turkish Stream gas pipeline, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Tuesday.

Russia and Turkey will continue to work towards an intergovernmental agreement concerning construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, Sputnik quoted Miller as saying.

A draft intergovernmental agreement, envisioning the construction of a first thread and negotiations over a second, have been prepared, Miller told reporters.

Miller also stated that Gazprom had decided to nearly halve the planned capacity of Turkish Stream pipeline project to 32 billion cubic meters a year, from an original capacity of 63 bcm due to plans to expand the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak earlier said that the intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline could be signed in the beginning of 2016, Sputnik reported.