Russia, Turkey may scrap Israel gas pipeline deal

Manama: The proposed Blue Stream II natural-gas pipeline may not extend to Israel, although it was originally envisioned as a key customer, Russia's prime minister said on Tuesday, citing economic concerns.

Vladimir Putin's remarks came after Turkey said it would shelve all energy-cooperation deals with Israel unless the country apologises for the lethal attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship that killed eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent, Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review reported.

"The problem is different," Putin told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of a regional security summit in Istanbul. "Israel, according to the data available, has found natural gas on its own continental shelf. Therefore I think Blue Stream [II] may not be extended to Israel because of economic concerns."

The Russian prime minister made clear Israel's exclusion from the project would be unrelated to what he called "the tragic incidents" sparked by the deadly Israeli raid last week.

Basic issue

Putin, however, declined to speculate further on the issue, saying that "the basic issue is Israel may not need this gas that much."

"This issue is not on our agenda," said Erdogan, in response to the same request for additional information.

A senior Russian diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that Israel had been anticipated as a major recipient of the natural gas to be shipped via Blue Stream II.

"Under the current circumstances, it would not be rational to implement the project because there would be no big market for the gas supplies," said the unnamed diplomat, quoted by the Turkish daily.

In March 2009, Turkey and Russia agreed to establish a working group for the realisation of the Blue Stream II project to transport Russian gas to the Middle East, including Israel, via Turkey.

The project foresees the construction of a new pipeline parallel to the current Black Sea route Blue Stream, through which Russian gas supplies are transported to Turkey.

Energy is one of the major areas of cooperation between Turkey and Russia. During a key visit in May by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow agreed to $25 billion (Dh91.7 billion) in mostly energy projects with Ankara, including Turkey's first nuclear power plant.

Russia's deputy prime minister, Igor Sechin, and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız signed a deal Tuesday on the exchange of information and expertise concerning the licensing of nuclear facilities and related activities.

Kazakhstan

According to the newspaper, the presidents of Turkey and Kazakhstan also met with Putin on the sidelines of the Istanbul summit.

Abdullah Gül, Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Russian leader discussed the Samsun-Ceyhan project, which aims to diminish tanker traffic on the Bosphorus and the Dardan-elles. Both Russian and Kazakh oil will be shipped through the proposed pipeline.

Diplomatic sources said Gül pointed at passing tankers on the Bosphorus from the Çıragan Palace, where the international summit was taking place and said, "We need to shift them to the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline," according to the Turkish daily."