Russia eases Turkey gas shortfall

MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Russia's Gazprom said Friday it supplied Turkey with an extra 35 million cubic meters of gas after a pipeline blast hit supplies.

"The company Botas submitted an application today for 24 million cubic meters, which is 4 million cubic meters more than the average daily volume," Gazprom said in a statement, RIA Novosti reported.

Turkey is the No. 3 customer for Russian gas. In 2006 it imported 19.9 billion cu m of Russian natural gas, RIA Novosti reported.

The 754-mile Blue Stream pipeline carries gas from Russia to Turkey and is expected to pump 16 billion cu m per year by 2010, RIA Novosti reported.

Gas supplies from Iran were stopped temporarily because of a blast in the Turkish-Iranian natural gas pipeline on Sunday.

The blast occurred near Dogubeyazit, Agri province, bordering Iran. Turkish officials told the news agency they were investigating the incident, but noted it could have been caused by a technical fault.

The pipeline, which runs 750 miles from Tabriz, Iran, to Ankara, Turkey, supplies Turkey with gas for domestic consumption. It was inaugurated in 2002 and has a maximum capacity of 495 billion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy’s data arm. Average supply levels have been around 150 billion cu m.

There have been previous supply disruptions both technical and sabotage by members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the EIA says.