ANKARA, Turkey, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Greece has asked that a ceremony to inaugurate the Turkey-Greece gas pipeline be postponed from its scheduled date in August.
The Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday that officials from the Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Ministry said that Greece wanted to delay the inauguration, which was scheduled for between Aug. 16 and 26, because of technical problems with the pipeline.
The ceremony may now be held after Sept. 15, the officials said.
The pipeline stems from a December 2003 deal between Turkey's Botas Petroleum Pipeline Corp. and Public Gas Company of Greece on the purchase and sale of natural gas. Under the deal, the pipeline will carry natural gas from the Caspian basin, Middle East and countries near Turkey, to Europe via Turkey and Greece.
The 186-mile pipeline runs from Karacabey, Turkey, to Komotini, Greece; 130 miles of it is on Turkish territory and 10.6 miles under the sea.
