Turkey, Russia sign gas pipeline deal

ANKARA, Turkey — Russia on Thursday secured Turkish support for a pipeline project that challenges European efforts to reduce energy dependence on Moscow, but predicted that Europe would ultimately benefit from the deal.

Russia’s South Stream pipeline rivals a pipeline project known as Nabucco that has the backing of the European Union and the United States and would provide a supply of gas not subject to Russian control.

At a signing ceremony in Ankara, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sought to portray the South Stream project as a contributor to Europe’s energy security. The deal they signed provides for constructing part of the pipeline through Turkish waters in the Black Sea.

South Stream would eventually run from Russia to Bulgaria before delivering gas to consumers in the European Union.

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters later Thursday that construction on the project could begin in November 2010.

Putin acknowledged that the Russian plan was in competition with the EU-backed one, speaking in blunter language than Russian officials who have downplayed the pipeline rivalry in the past. But he suggested the two projects could coexist.

“Even with the construction of South Stream, Nabucco will not be closed,” Putin said at a news conference. “The more infrastructure projects, the better, because that will create reliability and stability of energy supply to Europe.”

Erdogan, whose country stands to benefit from both pipelines because of its strategic location between Asia and Europe, said even the parallel projects would in the future “not be sufficient for Europe.”

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi joined Putin and Erdogan at the ceremony, smiling broadly from his front-row seat. Italian oil and gas giant Eni is involved in the South Stream project and another Turkish venture, Samsun-Ceyhan.

Just last month in Ankara, European countries sealed a deal on the Nabucco pipeline project, which aims to bring natural gas from Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe.

But Nabucco can at best put only a dent in Moscow’s dominance even if it finds the gas supplies it now seeks to make it a viable rival to Russian pipelines running to Europe.

The maneuvering has a political edge, recalling Cold War-era suspicion between the West and Moscow. And it comes just before the anniversary Friday of the start of the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia.

Putin described the South Stream talks with Turkey as difficult, but said the two sides also agreed to study the feasibility of expanding their Blue Stream project. Turkey is already supplied with gas from Russia via Blue Stream, a pipeline that opened in 2005 and tunnels under the Black Sea separating the two countries.

An expanded project, dubbed Blue Stream II, could supply other countries including Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and Syria with Russian oil and gas via Turkey, Putin and Erdogan said.

Courted by suppliers and consumers alike, Turkey has emerged a winner in the energy game. It and four European Union countries — Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary — had signed the deal to allow the Nabucco pipeline to cross their countries. Turkey’s involvement in Russia’s South Stream project as well, boosts its role as a strategic player in the region.

Turkey may have benefited from tension between Russia and Ukraine. The South Stream deal with Turkey would give Russia a clear path to reach Bulgaria while avoiding Ukrainian waters. Some South Stream supporters had worried that Ukraine might not allow Russia to route the pipeline through its waters, as many European countries have sough to diminish Russian dominance in energy markets.

Ukraine was also at the center of a January price dispute that led to Russia shutting off gas supplies through Ukraine, affecting European Union countries further west. It was only the most recent of gas disputes between the two countries that negatively affected the EU.

Putin and Erdogan also signed other energy deals, including on nuclear cooperation. Turkey is considering a bid by Russia’s Atomstroiexport to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.

Hours before Putin’s arrival, about 20 Greenpeace members protested the plant plans. Hundreds of riot police stood guard.

Russia also committed to join the Samsun-Ceyhan project, a crude oil pipeline between the Black Sea city of Samsun and the Mediterranean commercial hub of Ceyhan, both in Turkey.

The pipeline would carry Russian oil and provide an alternative route to the congested Bosporus strait.

Recently, Bulgaria has threatened to back out of a similar project, Burgas-Alexandroupolis.

Russia provides over one-quarter of Europe’s gas, and 80 percent of that moves over Ukrainian pipelines.

The United States and Turkey do not object to Russia’s participation in Nabucco as a business partner, though Moscow would likely be reluctant to ship gas through a pipeline that competes with its own projects. Washington says Iran should be excluded from Nabucco until it improves its ties with the West.

Torchia contributed from Istanbul. AP writers Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Turkey and David Nowak in Moscow contributed to this report.