Gazprom Eyes New Gas Route to Turkey

Russia's Gazprom plans to supply first gas via a new route to Turkey in December 2016, the company's Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a statement on Tuesday.

Gazprom said last year it would build a new pipeline to Turkey with capacity of 63 billion cubic metres a year to bypass Ukraine. It had earlier scrapped a planned South Stream pipeline over disagreements with the European Union.

Under the plan, the EU would have to build its own link to the proposed pipeline to Turkey to get Russian gas, which now accounts for around a third of Europe's needs. Around half of that is now being pumped via Ukraine.

Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Polina Devitt