Moscow and Ankara are moving forward with plans to create a major energy hub in Turkey, Putin said at the press conference following the signing of the agreement.

Earlier on Monday, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that the Turkish Stream project agreement envisioned the construction of two pipeline branches, each with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters (bcm).

The first branch will supply gas directly to Turkey, while the second is to be used to deliver gas to European countries through Turkey, he explained.

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“The intergovernmental agreement would also define the deadline by which the two maritime threads are to be built. It’s December 2019,” Miller said.

During his speech at the 23rd World Energy Congress earlier on Monday, Putin said that he and President Erdogan had thoroughly discussed the joint Turkish Stream pipeline ahead of the visit, saying they “intend to implement” the project.

The pipeline would allow Russian natural gas to be delivered directly to Turkey via the Russian Black Sea coast and on to Greece.

The project, with an estimated total cost of €11.4 billion (US$12.7 billion), was announced in December 2014 during Putin’s visit to Turkey as an alternative to the canceled South Stream route through Bulgaria.

But after the downing of a Russian jet by the Turkish Air Force in November 2015, Russia suspended the project. It was revived only after Turkey publicly apologized for the incident this August.

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Turkish Stream gas pipeline: Moscow & Ankara sign agreement in Istanbul — RT Business