Russia’s Gazprom Says Black Sea Gas Pipeline Could Replace Volumes Lost to Nord Stream ‘Terrorism’

The logo of Gazprom company is seen on the facade of a business centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on March 31, 2022. Reuters photographer/File Photo

Russia’s state-run energy giant Gazprom said Thursday that gas volumes that could potentially run from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea may be comparable to that which was previously transported through Baltic pipelines that are no longer working following sabotage to the Nord Stream pipelines

Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller made the comments to Russia’s Channel One, according to TASS news agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week proposed establishing Europe’s largest natural gas hub in Turkey by redirecting supplies meant to run through the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea’s TurkStream pipeline.

The suggestion came after explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea last month.

Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday where he again doubled down on the idea, stating that “Turkey has become the most reliable route, and now it has become a much more reliable route than Europe,” according to local news outlets in Turkey.

Erdogan has maintained a friendly relationship with the Kremlin as he has repeatedly sought to play the role of mediator in the Russia–Ukraine conflict.

“If we talk about volumes that may appear in the TurkStream corridor, about new gas transit capacities, then we are talking about the volume that we have lost in the Baltic, in Nord Streams due to the acts of international terrorism,” Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said.

Miller said he believes that demand for the gas that was set to be delivered to the Nord Stream pipeline is still high and will likely attract a wave of buyers.

‘Buyers Interested in Purchasing Those Volumes of Gas’

“There are valid gas delivery contracts for Nord Stream 1. For reasons outside our control, we are not delivering gas under these contracts at the moment, but those contracts are still valid, and there are buyers interested in purchasing those volumes of gas,” he added.

The Gazprom CEO added that discussions are underway regarding the potential gas hub on the border between Turkey and Europe.

Erdogan stated on Oct. 14 that the new gas hub could potentially be built in Trakya (Thrace), which is in the westernmost part of the country, according to local media.

The President told reporters that he has instructed the country’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to create a preliminary proposal on the issue which they will then present to both leaders. After viewing the proposal, the two presidents will move forward with the plan if both sides are in agreement.

Elsewhere on Friday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service told Tass that it has data regarding the explosions at the  Nord Stream pipelines but declined to give further details.

“We have the data, but I won’t specify it,” Sergey Naryshkin, Chief of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service told the publication.

Officials from both the West and Russia are investigating the blasts to the crucial pipelines that occurred on Sept. 26.

The United States and its allies in Europe have suggested Russian sabotage may have been behind the incident and have launched an investigation into the matter.

However, Russia on Thursday condemned leaders from Germany, Denmark, and Sweden for their failure to invite the Kremlin to join the probe, with the foreign ministry stating that Russia would “obviously not recognize the pseudo-results of such an investigation unless Russian experts are involved.”