Russia, Turkey Sign Pipeline Agreement

Russian state gas giant Gazprom said on Saturday it had signed a protocol with the Turkish government on a planned gas pipeline and agreed with Turkish firm Botas to end an arbitration dispute over the terms of gas supplies. The protocol concerned the land-based part of the transit leg of the TurkStream gas pipeline, which Gazprom said meant that work on it could now begin, Reuters reported. Turkey had delayed issuing a permit for the Russian company to start building the land-based segments of the pipeline which, if completed, would allow Moscow to reduce its reliance on Ukraine as a route for exporting gas to Europe. A source said in February the permit problem might be linked to talks between Gazprom and Botas about a possible discount for Russian gas. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier on Saturday Turkey and Russia had reached a retroactive agreement for a 10.25% discount on the natural gas Ankara buys from Moscow.