Blue Stream to Expand

摘要

With its natural gas exports to Europe set to fall this year on lower demand and icy relations with the West, Gazprom plans to boost deliveries to Turkey to help compensate. The Russian gas giant agreed last week to hoist capacity on its Blue Stream pipeline to 19 Bcm/yr (1.8 Bcf/d) from 16 Bcm/yr as Ankara has been requesting since April, when the Russia-Ukraine gas conflict heated up. In addition to Blue Stream, which ships Russian gas direct under the Black Sea, Ankara receives Russian gas via Ukraine and the Balkans, and observers say Turkey regards an expanded Blue Stream as a Plan B if Ukrainian transit shipments are disrupted (WGI Sep. 17'14).