Turkish Energy Ministry announced the transition to rubles in payments for Russian gas

ANKARA, Sep 19 – PRIME. The agreement on payment for 25 percent of Russian gas supplied to Turkey in rubles will come into force in the near future, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said.

Turkish and Russian Presidents Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin met in Samarkand last week. In particular, according to the Russian leader, the parties agreed to pay for 25% of Russian gas supplies to Turkey in rubles and settled the problems that had arisen in the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

“Turkey will pay for 25 percent of the natural gas purchased from Russia in rubles. The corresponding agreement will come into force in the near future. The fact that Turkey will buy gas from Russia in rubles instead of dollars will reduce the need for dollars and reduce costs,” he said. Donmez newspaper Yeni Şafak.

He also said that work on the construction of a pipeline delivering Black Sea gas to land has been largely completed.

Earlier, the Sabah newspaper wrote that Turkey would invest almost $10 billion in a project to extract and transport 540 billion cubic meters of gas from the Sakarya field in the Black Sea. According to plans, the first gas from the field should come to Turkey in 2023. Donmez reported that the cost of gas discovered in the Black Sea is $400 billion.

“Work on the construction of a pipeline that will bring Black Sea gas to land has been largely completed. The main pipeline will be completed by the end of this month. Three pipes will be laid … The goal is to complete all three lines by the end of the year,” the newspaper quoted Donmez as saying. Yeni Safaq.

At the same time, he noted that work at the Akkuyu NPP will be continued at an accelerated pace, the project schedule is mandatory.

The Turkish company IC Ictas, with which the Akkuyu Nuclear project company had previously canceled the contract for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, received a contract again, Reuters reported earlier. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that all problematic issues related to the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey had been closed and final documents had been signed. He expressed hope that the first unit of the Akkuyu NPP would be launched on time – in 2023.

“An agreement has been reached on the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP). Our ministry, especially our president, has made intensive efforts to bring the parties together and overcome problems. After some time, work will continue at an accelerated pace. The project schedule is binding on us. We must commission the first unit in 2023,” Yeni Şafak quoted the minister as saying.

Akkuyu is the first project in the global nuclear industry implemented according to the “build-own-operate” model. The construction cost is about 20 billion dollars. The Akkuyu project meets all modern international safety requirements in the nuclear power industry.

Until recently, Titan 2 IC Ictas Insaat Anonim Sirketi, founded in May 2019, a Russian-Turkish joint venture between the Russian JSC Concern Titan-2 and the Turkish construction company IC Ictas Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS In July 2019, the design company Akkuyu Nuclear JSC and Titan 2 IC Ictas Insaat Anonim Sirketi signed an agreement for the design, supply of equipment and construction of Akkuyu NPP facilities (EPC contract). Since that time, the main construction work at the Akkuyu NPP site has been carried out by the joint venture.

According to Rosatom, during the execution of the EPC contract, IC Ictas Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS committed numerous violations that affected the quality and timing of the work. Under the circumstances, the project management decided to terminate the contract with IC Ictas Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS. It was reported that after its withdrawal from the project participants, Akkuyu Nuclear signed a contract with the Turkish company TSM Enerji İnşaat Sanayi Limited Şirketi (TSM).