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Main page > Comments > Fuel & Energy > Development of Russian-Turkish energy projects
Development of Russian-Turkish energy projects
During Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Ankara a number of agreements on cooperation in deferent political and economic spheres is planned to be signed: canceling a visa regime for individuals as well as joint transportation, tourism and agricultural projects. However, as expected, key issues will concern energy accords. And these will be neither nuclear (building a nuclear power plant by Russia in Turkey) nor oil problems (laying the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline with Russia giving up a competing project of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline), but the gas issue that has become the main one for Moscow.
As far as the latter question is concerned, Gazprom needs the following steps to be made by Turkey - issuing a final permit to lay the South Stream gas pipeline in Turkey's economic zone in the Black Sea and opening access to the Russian gas giant to final consumers in Turkey.
On one side, Turkey's negotiating positions look strong for this is Russia that needs South Stream (Russian officials including Vladimir Putin keep pursuing this goal). Using its "exclusively advantageous" geographical position Ankara can always reject one of the transit pipeline projects in favor of the other. In particular, Turkey may raise its already obvious support to Nabucco amid some evidence of progress in Ankara-Baku talks on finding compromises on conditions of transit of Azerbaijani gas to the West.
On the other side, Turkey's position of a transit power can be shaken. For instance, progress in a merger of Gazprom and Naftogaz will make Ankara's services on South Stream useless. Meanwhile, demanding too much from Europe in negotiations within Nabucco may provide the Europeans skeptical about membership of Muslim Turkey in the EU with new arguments. On this background Russia may bargain some concessions from Ankara (e.g. not to sharply reduce gas prices and ease the take-or-pay contract conditions too much).
By Stanislav Mitrakhovich, NESF leading expert
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