"We will launch TurkStream on Jan. 8. We will be indispensable in international markets with natural gas pipelines coming from both the east and north," the Minister said.

TurkStream starts from Russkaya compressor station near Anapa in Russia's Krasnodar Region, crossing the Black Sea to the receiving terminal at Kıyıköy.TurkStream replaced the cancelled South Stream project which was cancelled in 2014. Following the Shootdown of Russian fighter jet by Turkey in November 2015, the project was temporarily halted. However, Russia-Turkey relations were restored in summer 2016 and the intergovernmental agreement for TurkStream was signed in October 2016. Construction started in May 2017 and it will become operational at the beginning of 2020.

ILKHA