Turkey and Russia on Sunday tentatively agreed on the route for their planned Turkish Stream gas pipeline which Moscow hopes will replace its now scrapped South Stream project. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miiller surveyed the route over the Black Sea during a four-hour ride by helicopter from Istanbul.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dramatically scrapped the South Stream project during a visit to Ankara in December, blaming the European Union for placing obstructions in its way.
The South Stream pipeline aimed to carry Russian gas from southern Russia to EU consumers under the Black Sea avoiding Ukraine, whose relations with Russia are currently in deep crisis. It was to have surfaced in EU member Bulgaria.
Under the new Turkish Stream project, the pipeline will surface on Turkish territory on the Black Sea and then carry the gas overland up to the Greek border.
Yildiz told the Anatolia news agency that the pipeline landfall was planned to be in the Turkish Black Sea town of Kiyikoy.
The Turkish Stream pipeline would go through Turkey's Luleburgaz region to the town of Ipsala on the Turkey-Greece border.