Cihan News Agency: Turkey asked Russia to increase Blue Stream capacity, says minister
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız has said Turkey demanded that Russia consider increasing the capacity of the Blue Stream pipeline, which transports Russian natural gas to European customers to over 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year.
Yıldız said Turkey has been assessing different options to diversify the natural gas supply channels to improve the supply security and that these efforts will continue. That is the reason why Turkey indented upon raising the quantity of Russian gas through the Blue Stream, he noted. “It could be a lot better through the hands of the private sector. And we conveyed our expectations of new price proposals [from Russia],” said Yıldız.
The Russian annexation of Crimea after the civil disorder in Ukraine has established a new source of risk for Turkey, Yıldız confessed, underlining that about 12.5 percent of Turkey's total natural gas supply is coming through the West Line grid across Ukraine.