Gazprom sends more gas to Turkey

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MOSCOW, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- There will be more Russian natural gas headed to Turkey to meet renewed demands following a militant attack on a pipeline, gas monopoly Gazprom said.

Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman for the Russian gas company, said his company was doubling the amount of gas transferred through the Blue Stream gas pipeline to Turkey, the official Anatolian News Agency in Turkey reports.

Blue Stream carries gas from Russia across the Black Sea to northern Turkey. Kupriyanov said the gas increase was in part a response to militant attacks on a gas pipeline carrying Iranian gas.

The militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was blamed for an attack on a pipeline running from Iran earlier this week. An explosion on the pipeline in the eastern Turkish city of Agri forced authorities to cut off the gas flow from Iran temporarily.

Turkish authorities blamed the PKK for a July 21 attack on a separate section of the same pipeline.

At Turkey's request, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom increased the flow of gas through the Blue Stream pipeline in response to that attack.

Kupriyanov added that an overall increase in gas demand from Turkey showed the country was recovering from the economic recession.