Russian Bank Wants to Finance Turkish Stream

Sberbank of Russia had announced that it wishes to finance the planned Turkish Stream pipeline transiting Russia natural gas through Turkey.

Sberbank Deputy Chairman Sergey Gorkov announced during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the project aimed to transport Russian gas to Turkey’s western borders, which started in December 2014, will have two more years of work to be realized.

Gorkov said ithat Sberbak “has already financed many major projects in Turkey including Istanbul's third airport and Turkey's first nuclear power plant, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. He added, in an interview with Turkey’s state Anadolu Agency, that the bank will negotiate with the relevant parties for the new natural gas pipeline project.

"We haven't made a final decision yet. Gazprom is one of our customers. We are ready to negotiate." Gorkov said.  

In September 2012, Sberbank acquired a 99.85% stake in DenizBank. DenizBank is among the top ten private banks in Turkey. The deal became the largest acquisition in the bank's 172-year old history.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is the principal shareholder and founder of Sberbank of Russia, holding 50% of the share capital plus one voting share.

Russia's Gazprom and BOTAS, Turkey's a state-owned crude oil and natural gas pipelines and trading company , signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on December 1st on the construction of an offshore gas pipeline across the Black Sea towards Turkey with the annual capacity of 63 BCM of gas per year.

Under this agreement, 14 BCM is planned for supply to Turkey and the remaining portion, nearly 50 BCM, will head to a hub at the Turkish-Greek border. Russia currently supplies about 60 percent of Turkey's natural gas demand through the Blue Stream and Western Pipeline.

The project replaces the South Stream Project canceled in early December 2014.