Gazprom reviews gas line to Europe in midst of Russian, Turkish tensions

MOSCOW, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Amid frosty relations between Moscow and Ankara, Russian energy company Gazprom said it was reviewing the status of a pipeline through the Baltic Sea.

Officials with Gazprom hosted their counterparts from Austrian energy company OMV to discuss bilateral affairs.

"The meeting addressed the status of the Nord Stream II project as well as possibilities of an asset swap and oil supplies to OMV from the Gazprom group portfolio," Gazprom said in a statement.

Both sides held similar meetings in Vienna in October. OMV had no statement on the latest gathering in Moscow.

Gazprom aims to double the capacity of the existing twin Nord Stream project running through the Baltic Sea to the German coast. Two more lines would be added to the existing network, bringing the net aggregate annual capacity to 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Nord Stream is one of Gazprom's options to avoid geopolitical sensitive territory in Ukraine, through which a majority of its gas supplies reach Europe. Turkish Stream would carry gas through Turkey and onto markets in southern Europe.

Ties between Turkey and Russia were strained when a Russian fighter plane was downed by a Turkish military jet near the border with Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin said from the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris this week the Kremlin considered it a "criminal action."

"It was a huge mistake," he added.

Turkish Stream is a scaled-back version of South Stream, a broader pipeline network proposed by Gazprom.

Russian supplies Europe with about a quarter of its gas, though European officials this year ruled each member state should have access to "at least three different sources of gas."

Members of the European Union are slated to raise the Nord Stream issue during a mid-December meeting in Brussels.