Russian energy giant "Gazprom" announced that it has signed a protocol with the Turkish government to build a road section of the gas pipeline "Turkish Stream".

The signed protocol is the basis for the beginning of the construction of a land section of the gas pipeline on Turkish territory, according to BGS.

The "Turkish Stream" should start from the east coast of the Black Sea, along the seabed to northwest Turkey and then continue on the land route. The initial plan was for four pipes - two of them only for Turkey and two- from the Balkans to Europe. On October 10th, 2016 a contract for a pipeline was signed for Turkey with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters per year, with the combined capacity of the second pipe reaching 31 billion cubic meters. It is foreseeable the possibility of expanding to four pipes with a total omission of 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year - as planned for South Stream.

Until now, Ankara has postponed the issuing of an order for construction of the pipeline's ground route because of the dispute over the price of Russian gas imported to Turkey.

Gazprom's announcement came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara and Moscow had reached an agreement to adjust the price of allotted Russian gas for 2015 and 2016, with which Russia would return $ 1 billion to Turkey.

"After long talks, an agreement has been reached to a price adjustment of 10.25% for distributions in 2015 and 2016 gas. The difference in the amount paid for two years, which is $ 1 billion will be returned to Turkey," Erdogan said.

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