Earth Day

London — The first 1 Bcm of Russian gas has now flowed through the 31.5 Bcm/year capacity TurkStream pipeline from Russia to Turkey, Russian gas giant Gazprom said Monday.

In a short statement, Gazprom said that TurkStream -- which is made up of two 15.75 Bcm/year offshore strings -- began commercial supplies on January 1.

That implies average flows in January to date of around 37 million cu m/d.

"Gazprom has delivered the first billion cubic meters of gas via the TurkStream gas pipeline," the company said.

One of the strings is designed to bring Russian gas to the Turkish market directly, while the other flows gas out of Turkey into Bulgaria.

"About 54% of this volume was delivered to the Turkish gas market and about 46% to the Turkish-Bulgarian border," Gazprom said.

That suggests average flows into Turkey so far of 20 million cu m/d -- or 7.3 Bcm on an annualized basis -- and 17 million cu m/d into Bulgaria (6.2 Bcm/year).

Ukraine bypass

It is planned for the Bulgarian gas network to be expanded and connected to a new pipeline in Serbia to bring Russian gas via TurkStream up to the Serbia-Hungary border.

TurkStream was designed by Gazprom as a pipeline to bring gas to Turkey and southeast Europe without having to transit via Ukraine.

When TurkStream was officially inaugurated on January 8, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that TurkStream and the existing Blue Stream gas link via the Black Sea combined meant "the road is now open for direct, transit-free deliveries of all Gazprom's gas which Turkey needs."