Russia-Turkey Pipeline Open

By AP Wire Service

DURUSU METERING STATION, Turkey (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially opened a $3.2 billion pipeline Thursday connecting Turkey to Russian gas fields, another step toward making the NATO nation an energy hub for Europe.

The Blue Stream pipeline, which has been running for more than two years but was officially inaugurated Thursday, already pumps 112 billion cubic feet of gas a year, but has the potential to more than quadruple that volume.

Putin said that capacity could be further expanded.

It has long been the dream of Turkey to act as an energy corridor to the West.

An oil pipeline already brings Iraqi crude to Turkey’s southern Mediterranean port of Ceyhan for export and another pipeline will bring Azerbaijani Caspian oil to the same port.