Turkey ready to increase gas exports to EU with long-term guarantees



07/17/2024 9:25 AM


According to Alparslan Bayraktar, head of Turkey's Energy Ministry, "we are ready to sell more gas to the European Union, but we want long-term commitments to justify infrastructure investments and prefer to do without the complex swapping the EU insists on to avoid Russian gas supplies."



AHMET BARIS ISITAN
Europe is attempting to acquire alternative gas supply in order to replace Russian gas passing via Ukraine. The terms of the transit agreement and contract between Kiev and Moscow expire at the end of 2024.

Among the alternatives would be to replace the volumes of Azerbaijani gas that Turkey now imports from Azerbaijan to Europe with more Russian gas supplies to the Turkish market. According to Bloomberg, Turkey is more interested in increasing exports through Bulgaria.

Bayraktar added that Ankara might collaborate with SOCAR in Azerbaijan to raise that capacity to at least 10 billion cubic meters, but he needs guarantees regarding European demand.

Bloomberg notes that these remarks validate diplomatic efforts to find a substitute for Russian gas deliveries to Europe.

source: bloomberg.com


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