Turkey is exploring alternatives for transporting natural gas from Turkmenistan to Europe through Turkey, said Turkey's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, Orient.tm reports.
"The Turkmen gas is a matter that has been on our agenda for many years. We are at a stage where the conditions are ripe. There are three options for gas delivery," Bayraktar said at the Energy and Climate Forum in Istanbul.
"One of them is that Turkmen gas is transferred to Turkey through Iran via swap. Another option is that it arrives in Turkey through exchange via Iran and Azerbaijan. As an alternative, Turkmen gas could be supplied to Turkey through a pipeline passing through the Caspian Sea, which is essentially more durable, more resilient, and has higher capacity," quoted the minister by hurriyetdailynews.
All these options are being considered, Bayraktar said, noting that initially, up to 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas could be transferred from Turkmenistan.
Addressing the establishment of a gas trading center in Turkey, the minister reminded that they are "working on a gas trading platform for the Istanbul Financial Center, primarily with Gazprom." "We believe that we can put this platform into operation in a short time," he added.
Earlier this month, Turkey and Turkmenistan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the gas sector and a Declaration of Intentions for collaboration in hydrocarbon resources. The documents were signed following the meeting between the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and the President of the Turkish Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
March 9, 2024