Yesterday, Ms. Tolgskaya announced that the FNS intended to review an issue of gas supplies through gas pipeline Blue Stream in the framework of scheduled audit of Gazprom. The case was submitted to the FNS by the Audit Chamber, she added.
"The FNS is ready to review the Blue Stream case in the framework of a scheduled audit of Gazprom. The dates for the audit have not been determined yet," the FNS official said.
In his turn, Gazprom press secretary Igor Volobuyev stated that the company supplied gas through the Blue Stream in accordance with the Russian legislation, including the Tax Code.
"Gazprom continues to supply gas through the Blue Stream according to Russian laws, including the tax legislation," Mr. Volobuyev said.
The Blue Stream gas pipeline has been constructed in the framework of the intergovernmental Russian-Turkish agreement of December 15, 1997.
The Blue Stream provides direct supply of Russian natural gas to Turkey through the Black Sea. The project supplements the existing gas-supply corridor from Russia to Turkey through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria.
In 2003, the volume of gas supplies through the Blue Stream reached 1.3 billion cubic meters. Russia planned to increase the Blue Stream's capacity by approximately 2 billion cubic meters in 2004.
