ANKARA (Sputnik) – Turkey is waiting for more detailed coordinates on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline from the Russian side and will start construction once the information is received, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz told Sputnik.
"Turkey asked Russia for the necessary information. We received a response, but it was incomplete on a number of points so a decision was made to send a request again for a more detailed study by the Russian side," Yildiz said.
The minister specified that Turkey needs more details on where a 190-kilometer (118-mile) section of the pipeline, which was supposed to go through Bulgaria under the terminated South Stream project, would pass on Turkish territory.
The Turkish Stream is a proposed pipeline from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea with a planned annual capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas.
It is a substitute for the South Stream pipeline project, which Moscow cancelled in December 2014, citing an "unconstructive" stance of the European Union.
Taner Yildiz noted that the West has been inconsistent in its view of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, opposing and wishing to take advantage of it at the same time.
"I find the Western stance [on the Turkish Stream] strange, as, on the one hand, it [the West] is opposed to the implementation of this project, but on the other hand it wishes to receive gas within its framework. It is an inconsistent, illogical position," Yildiz said.
A major part of the Turkish Stream pipeline, about 660 kilometers (410 miles), will be constructed along the sea route planned for the South Stream.
The Turkish Stream will cross the Black Sea and end with a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border, from where it could flow to consumers in southern Europe.
Russian energy company Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller has said that Moscow can guarantee annual supplies of up to 47 billion cubic meters of gas to European customers through gas transit infrastructure that is to be built in Greece.
