Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratified an agreement with Turkey that seals the deal for the TurkStream pipeline project that will see Russian gas sent to Turkey and Europe via the Black Sea.

The offshore pipeline, which will be constructed by Gazprom, will consist of two parallel pipelines running 900km along the Black Sea from Anapa in Russia to Kiyikoy in Turkey, some 100km west of Istanbul. From Kiyikoy, an underground pipeline will connect Turkstream to an existing network that will extend to Ipsala, near the Greek border.

GTR has leart that Gazprom will finance the offshore part of the project. Onshore in Turkey, Turkish state petroleum and pipeline company BOTAŞ will finance the line which will connect to the Turkish network. Meanwhile, the second line which will run to southern Europe will be realized jointly by both companies.

The pipelines, which will lie at water depths of 2.2km will each transport 15.75 billion cubic metre of gas per year.

The pipeline, which was first announced by Putin in December 2014, was approved by Turkey in December last year. Construction is expected to start this year with completion aimed for 2019.

Negotiations had halted after Turkey shot down a Russian plane over the Turkey-Syria border in November 2015 but resumed again last year.