A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Taner Yildiz, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey was held today in Ankara.

During the meeting a wide range of issues were discussed in the field of cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the gas sector.

Alexey Miller and Taner Yildiz highlighted successful operation of the Blue Stream gas pipeline. The Turkish party highly appreciated Gazprom's readiness to immediately supply gas to country's domestic consumers in case of shortages by feeding additional amounts along this route.

Alexey Miller and Taner Yildiz expressed a unanimous opinion that rapidly and positively developing cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the gas sector is based on a mutually beneficial basis and considers long-term strategic interests of the parties.

During the meeting the parties agreed on cooperation expansion in the medium and long term as well as on main commercial conditions and amounts of gas supplies from Russia to Turkey in 2012.

Background

Cooperation in the gas sector between Russia and Turkey commenced in 1984 when the Governments of the Republic of Turkey and the USSR signed the Agreement on natural gas supply to Turkey.

In 2010 Gazprom exported 18 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey via two transmission routes: the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline and the Blue Stream gas pipeline. Turkey is the world's second largest Russian gas purchaser after Germany.

The Blue Stream gas pipeline supplements the existing gas transmission corridor running from Russia to Turkey through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. Blue Stream significantly enhances the reliability of gas supplies to Turkey and creates additional preconditions for the gas market development in this country.