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Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar on Thursday said Turkey anticipates “concrete developments” regarding the planned regional natural gas hub project in the coming months.
In 2022, Russia proposed setting up a gas hub in Turkey to replace lost sales to Europe, supporting Ankara’s long-held desire to function as an exchange for energy-starved countries.
Negotiations have been ongoing, and key Russian and Turkish institutions have been discussing the project road map.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, Bayraktar emphasized Turkey’s strategic position as a hub for gas distribution, leveraging its existing infrastructure and capacity.
Turkey’s regasification terminals allow it to source an additional 20-25 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from diverse suppliers, said the minister. Currently, Turkey has an input capacity of 80 billion-85 billion cubic meters, while domestic consumption is around 50 bcm.
This leaves a substantial excess of gas available for trade.
“We have a significant amount of surplus gas capacity that can be traded,” Bayraktar stated, adding that Turkey is working closely with Russia’s Gazprom on the project.
“Hopefully, in the next few months, we will see some concrete developments in this area. This will establish an environment that will create new opportunities for both supplies and consumers” he said.
Bayraktar said the gas center would be settled at Istanbul Finance Center.
The project is part of Turkey’s broader ambition to establish itself as a key energy player in the region, facilitating gas flows from various suppliers to both domestic and international markets.
It already boasts an extensive infrastructure featuring natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, floating storage regasification units, natural gas storage facilities and a gas exchange market.
Russia’s gas exports to Europe have been severely curtailed after European countries imposed an embargo after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Lower gas quantities from Russia via Ukraine brought forward Turkey’s role as a transfer facilitator in the region.
Russia currently supplies gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines across the Black Sea.
TurkStream, which allows Moscow to bypass Ukraine as a transit route to Europe, goes for further exports to southern and eastern Europe, including Hungary, Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania and Serbia.
It has an annual capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) and consists of two 930-kilometer (578-mile) offshore lines and two separate onshore lines that are 142 and 70 kilometers long.
Turkey has said it would also be possible to include the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which carries Azeri natural gas to the Turkish border, into the proposed hub.
Russia supplies pipeline gas to Europe mainly via Ukraine at over 40 million cubic meters per day, less than half the amount it used to sell to the European Union before the Ukraine conflict via that route.
However, a five-year deal between Kyiv and Moscow on transit to Europe will expire on Dec. 31. An extension is seen as unlikely, given the military conflict between the two countries.
On Wednesday, Bayraktar also called on Greece and Bulgaria to expand the capacity of the existing interconnection gas pipeline to boost natural gas exports to Southeast European countries.
“I would like to emphasize that Turkey is, and will continue to be, actively involved in the investments related to this matter,” said Bayraktar, addressing the Atlantic Council Regional Conference on Clean and Secure Energy in Istanbul.
This would make “a significant contribution both to the supply security of this region and to the diversification of gas supply,” he added.
The Turkey-Greece Natural Gas Pipeline, spanning 296 kilometers (211 kilometers in Turkey and 85 kilometers in Greece), began facilitating gas exports in 2007, according to the website of the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ).
Last year, BOTAŞ and its Bulgarian counterpart Bulgargaz began the first gas shipment from Turkey to Bulgaria under a 13-year agreement.
Turkey and Bulgaria had signed an agreement on Jan. 3 for the transmission of up to 1.5 bcm of natural gas a year. The deal, which covers 13 years, came a month after both countries’ leaders and energy ministers met in Istanbul.
