American official says US against TurkStream

The United States opposes TurkStream, a transit-free export gas pipeline that will stretch across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and extend to Turkey's neighboring countries, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of State's Bureau of Energy Resources, John McCarrick, said Wednesday.

The 1,100-kilometer TurkStream project is slated to deliver 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year through four parallel lines. An estimated 47 billion cubic meters will reach the Greek-Turkish border. The remaining 16 billion cubic meters of gas are to be allocated for Turkey's domestic use. Russia currently sends natural gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and Trans-Balkan Pipelines.

McCarrick also said he does "not see the possibility" that Russia's planned Nord Stream II gas pipeline to Germany will ever be built.

McCarrick said if the Gazprom-led pipeline deal with European backers is reached, it will need to examine the "contours" of the deal before deciding whether European companies could face U.S. sanctions.

Nord Stream II is a political project by the Russian government meant to divert existing flows through Ukraine to Europe and deprive Ukraine of transit payments, McCarrick said.

The United States is liberalizing rules to increase LNG exports and working with European allies to determine the needed infrastructure to drive demand, he added.