Turkey and Russia postpone gas pipeline talks

Talks between Turkish and Russian officials about a proposed underwater gas pipeline have been postponed until next week. The proposed meeting in St Petersburg between the head of Russia’s Gazprom company and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz is being rescheduled while both sides work to finalise the terms of the agreement, a senior energy ministry official said on Wednesday.

Turkey was named as Russia’s preferred partner for the project after Moscow cancelled its planned South Stream pipeline in December last year; that was intended to carry gas to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine. Russia cited EU objections at the time.

Although Gazprom gave no reason for the postponement, an official at the Turkish Energy Ministry said it was because Gazprom executives, including CEO Alexei Miller, were out of the country. Miller had begun talks with the ministry in May. The deal is hoped to be concluded by the end of the month.

Turkey depends on Russia for natural gas imports. Last year it bought 27.4 billion cubic metres of Russian gas through the Blue Stream and Transbalkan pipeline, more than half of all of its gas imports.