Gazprom: Work on Underwater Section of Turkstream to Begin in H2 2017

Work on the underwater section of the Turkish Stream pipeline will get underway in the second half of next year, Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, told journalists on Tuesday.

Miller also said that both lines of the underwater section, one that will ship gas to the Turkish market and a second with gas destined eventually for Europe, will come on stream by the end of 2019.

Where that gas from the second line will come ashore in Europe has yet to be finally determined.

Gazprom, Italian energy firm Edison and Greek gas retailer DEPA in February signed a memorandum of understanding on natural gas deliveries via the Black Sea to Greece, and from Greece to Italy.

Gazprom, along with DEPA and Edison, will decide in December on the routes and delivery points into Europe, Miller said.

"In December...we will make a decision how we will work. It's about gas supplies via Turkey towards the Turkish-Greek border and construction of new pipelines on EU territory toward the South of Italy".

Gazprom had for years pushed its South Stream gas link project, to allow it to ship gas direct to southern Europe while circumventing Ukraine. But it had to scrap the South Stream project because of opposition from Brussels.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Christian Lowe)