Turkish Stream marks 4th anniversary of first sign-off

Ankara, October 13 - Neftegaz.RU. October 10 marked the 4th anniversary of the signing of the intergovernmental agreement for the TurkStream gas pipeline project by the energy ministers of Russia and Turkey, Turkish Anadolu Agency reported.

Oleg Aksyutin, the deputy chairman of the project’s main partner company, Gazprom and CEO of the TurkStream project company told Anadolu Agency of the challenges the company faced with the project to bring energy supply security to Turkey and the Balkans.

He described TurkStream as a daring project, which had a strict schedule and numerous technical challenges in its implementation in the Black Sea at depths greater than 2 km.

TurkStream is the biggest-diameter offshore gas pipeline in the world laid at extreme depths of 2,200 m and its deep-sea pipelaying was carried out by the world's biggest construction vessel, aptly called the Pioneering Spirit.

This colossal vessel, corresponding to the size of 6 Boeing 747s, can lift the equivalent of 2.5 Eiffel Towers. It laid pipes one at a time every 8 minutes for the project even in the event of massive waves.

During the pipelaying work, the captain expertly navigated the vessel to avoid the newly discovered aircraft wrecks and archeological pieces of interest on the seabed while ensuring that no undue delays were made in their work.

Turkish President Recep Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin inaugurated the TurkStream pipeline project on Jan. 8. Commercial supplies via the gas pipeline commenced on Jan. 1, 2020.

Gazprom-owned South Stream company constructed the project's gas receiving terminal in Kiyikoy, Turkey's main onshore section located on the Black Sea coast in the country’s northwestern region.