Russia, Turkey enter into gas pipeline agreement

Russia’s Gazprom has signed a protocol with the Turkish government on building the land-based parts of the transit leg of the TurkStream gas pipeline, Reuters reported.

The permission for building such parts saw delay from the Turkish side earlier. The completion of these parts would allow Moscow to reduce its reliance on Ukraine as a transit route for its gas supplies to Europe.

Gazprom also made an agreement with Turkish firm Botas to end the arbitration dispute over the terms of gas supplies, as in February sources attributed the permit problem to talks between the two firms about a possible discount for Russian gas.

Ankara will get a 10.25 percent discount on the natural gas being bought from Moscow, as per an agreement reached between the two countries, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said earlier on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, the Russian firm noted on a Saturday’s statement that the dispute with Botas would be settled out of court, according to Reuters.