Turkish Stream Pipeline Will Make Greece Europe’s Major Gas Distributing Center, Putin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Greece’s participation in the Russia-proposed Turkish Stream gas pipeline project would make them Europe’s major gas distributing center and would bring them hundreds of millions of euros in annual revenues for transit services alone, in addition to raising the nation’s geopolitical status considerably.

The statement from Putin came after talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Moscow.

Should Greece decide to join the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, this “will raise Greece’s geopolitical status – in this case it will become a large transit country both for the entire south of Europe and, possibly, for Central Europe,” Putin said.

“This key project would transport Russian natural gas via Turkey to the Balkans and perhaps to Italy and Central Europe. This new route would cover Europeans’ energy resource needs and enable Greece to become one of the continent’s main energy distribution centers,” Putin said.

Greece “will be receiving good money for transit amounting to hundreds of millions of euros annually simply for transit,” Putin said, adding that it “would attract substantial investment in the Greek economy and create new jobs.”

“This is a serious, large-scale and multi-billion project,” the Russian president said.

The talks between the Russian and Greek leaders also focused on financing sources for the Turkish Stream project, Putin said.

“Specific professional preparations are required at the level of Gazprom, the corresponding Russian ministries and departments and their partners in Greece,” Putin said.

Ultimately, of course, “in the final account, this is the issue of our economic structures and the Greek government’s sovereign decision,” Putin said.

Putin said that he discussed with Tsipras for the cooperation in various economic sectors, including possibilities for carrying out big projects in the energy sector which could provide loans and also could be used to settle credit relations.

“If we carry out a big project that will generate revenue for Greece, part of these revenues could be used to pay off the possible loans I mentioned. In other words, what we are talking about is not assistance but cooperation, including in the financial sector, in relation to specific large projects,” Putin said.

The Russian President also said that if the Greek government decides to carry out privatizations, that Russia is ready to take part in the bids.

Putin said that Russia was keen on investing in a wide range of sectors in Greece, such as infrastructure, ports, airports, and pipeline systems. He added that Russia is also ready to continue working in the energy sector, in energy generation, and supply of energy resources, and in industry.

Gazprom and Turkey’s Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding on December 1, 2014, envisaging the construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey.

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters, of which 50 billion cubic meters will be supplied to a new gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border.

In December, Putin announced that the project to build the South Stream gas pipeline was closed due to the EU’s unconstructive approach to cooperation, including Bulgaria’s decision to stop the construction of the pipeline’s stretch on its territory.

Instead, Russia decided to build a gas pipeline to Turkey where a gas hub on the border with Europe will be created.

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline will run 660 km (410 miles) along the old corridor of the abandoned South Stream project and 250 km (155 miles) in the new corridor towards Turkey’s European part.