The Russian state-held gas giant Gazprom has announced progresses on two large gas interconnection projects with Turkey and with China: 991 km of the TurkStream gas pipeline project have been built (53% of the total), while 1,629 km of the Power of Siberia (PoS) pipeline project have been laid. Gas supplies to China via the 38 bcm/year PoS gas pipeline are expected to start in December 2019; once completed, it will make it possible to connect the Yakutia and Irkutsk gas production centres to the Far-East and Chinese regions.
Besides, the company unveiled other project updates: the Yamal Bovanenkovo production in the Yamal Peninsula (Russia) is expected to increase to 11 bcm/year of gas by the end of 2018. The Ukhta-Torzhok-2 gas pipeline will be built later in 2018 and 869 km of 970km have been laid so far. Once commissioned, it will transport 45 bcm/year of gas between Ukhta (Komi Republic, Russia) and Gryazovets (Vologda Oblast, Russia).
In February 2018, Gazprom announced that it would increase its planned total investment in the TurkStream project to US$7bn. The pipeline starts from the southern Russian town of Anapa on the Black Sea coast and will be laid under the Black Sea to reach the Thrace region of Turkey. The terminal is expected to be ready for commercial operations in December 2019 and will receive 31.5 bcm/year of natural gas, conveyed through the Turk Stream pipeline from the Anapa compressor station in Russia, including two strings of 15.75 bcm/year each.