The Turkish parliament approved an agreement regarding the TurkStream undersea gas pipeline, which is intended to pump Russian gas via Turkey into southeastern Europe, Reuters reported.
In total, 210 lawmakers out of 223 voted in favour of the pipeline project. The bill was endorsed prior to Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim’s, visit to Russia, scheduled during the first week of December, informed World Pipelines. Accordingly, Russia’s State Duma Committee for International Affairs Chairman, Leonid Slutksy, said that the Russian government will submit the agreement to the parliament for ratification.
TurkStream is set to transport Russian natural gas across the Black Sea to Europe. The first leg of the pipeline will transport gas to Turkish consumers, whilst the second leg will provide natural gas to southern and southeastern Europe. The pipeline project is estimated to cost approximately $12.7b, and construction is slated to start in 2017, to be completed in late 2019.
In October, the Russian Energy Minister, Alexander Novak, and his Turkish counterpart, Berat Albayrak, had signed a bilateral agreement in order to build the TurkStream undersea gas pipeline. The agreement came while the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, was in Istanbul.
