Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that Moscow had agreed a 10.25 percent gas price discount for Turkey, adding that it was still in talks with Ankara on Turk Stream, despite Turkish officials saying those talks had been suspended.
Turkish officials told Reuters on Thursday the Turk Stream gas pipeline project was on hold after Moscow failed to sign off on the price discount.
"We have not received any official notifications or statements (from Turkey)," Novak told reporters when asked if the talks were suspended. "We continue to work."
Novak said Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Turkey's BOTAŞ [Turkish Pipeline Corporation] had agreed the 10.25 percent discount although they had still not signed the corresponding agreement.
Ankara said in February it obtained the discount on 28-30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas it buys from Russia and that it should have been enacted as of January 2015.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said separately on Friday the Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, would meet this autumn to discuss TurkStream, which would carry Russian gas to Europe via Turkey.
(www.todayszaman.com, July 31, 2015)
