RUSSIA: GAZPROM LAUNCHED BLUE STREAM GASPIPE SUNDAY.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co. begins transporting natural gas through Russia-Turkey Blue Stream pipeline)(Brief Article)

IPR Strategic Business Information Database, December, 2002

Russian gas giant Gazprom initiated scheduled operations to pump natural gas through the Russia-Turkey Blue Stream pipeline Sunday, reported Andrei Fink, head of Russian Beregovaya gas compressor station on the Black Sea. The 1,240-kilometer pipeline, which mostly runs along the bottom of the Black Sea, was established under the Blue Stream Pipeline Company, a joint venture held by Gazprom and Italian energy company Eni.

In 2003, Gazprom intends to supply six billion cubic meter of gas to Turkey, while gas shipments are projected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year by 2008.