The Russian state-run gas company Gazprom will lend €2.1bn to South Stream Transport, the company in charge of building and operating the Turkish section of the TurkStream gas pipeline. The funds will be provided to replenish the subsidiary's working capital until the end of 2023, at a 3.98% interest rate.
The Turkstream gas pipeline will consist of two strings of 15.75 bcm/year each (total capacity of 31.5 bcm/year), delivering Russian gas to Turkey and its European neighbours. The first string of the gas pipeline is intended for Turkish consumers, while the second string will deliver gas to southern and south-eastern Europe. Gazprom received a construction permit from the Turkish authorities for the construction of the offshore section of the second string in January 2018. The second line will be laid in the third quarter of 2018 and the whole pipeline is expected to be commissioned in 2019.
In May 2018, Gazprom started to consider connecting the second stream of TurkStream to Bulgaria and on to Austria's Baumgarten. This would mean submitting to the EU rules on third-party access but could offer another route to market the gas.