In first, Turkmenistan to supply Turkey directly with gas: What to know
BOTAS, Turkey’s state-owned pipeline operator, and Turkmenistan’s Turkmengaz will begin the gas flow from Turkmenistan to Turkey on March 1.
After years of negotiations, Turkey and Turkmenistan have signed an agreement to begin the flow of Turkmen gas to Turkey, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Tuesday. It marks the first time the Central Asian nation has supplied gas directly to Turkey, as Ankara seeks to diversify its energy sources.
BOTAS, Turkey’s state-owned pipeline operator, and Turkmenistan’s Turkmengaz will begin gas flow on March 1, the minister said on the social media platform X.
The deal will initially see the delivery of around 2 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas to Turkey, Turkish media reported, with the aim of boosting yearly supply to 15 billion cubic meters in the next two decades.
The gas is expected to be transported via Iran’s existing natural gas network, but Bayraktar did not provide any further details on how much will be transmitted through Iran or about Tehran’s involvement in the project.
Bayraktar stated that the agreement, which has been in development for "many years," will enhance cooperation between the two countries while strengthening Turkey’s and the region’s natural gas supply.
Although Turkey plans to increase domestic gas production, almost all of the country's gas needs are supplied by imports. Turkey imported 50.48 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2023, according to the latest annual gas report from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority. Russia is Turkey’s biggest supplier, accounting for 42.27% of all of Ankara’s imported natural gas. Russia is followed by Azerbaijan with 20.32%, Algeria with 11.86%, Iran with 10.71%, and the United States with 7.95% of the share.
Turkey and Turkmenistan signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2023 that set the stage for working together on natural gas trade. Furthermore, when Bayraktar visited the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, in June 2024, the two countries struck an agreement to transport Turkmen gas to Turkey via Azerbaijan and Georgia using the South Caucasus Pipeline.
This strategy to diversify energy sources complements Turkey's ambitions to play a bigger role as a gas re-exporter to Europe, which Bayraktar highlighted in a September 2024 interview on Turkish television. For instance, two months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Turkey started transferring gas to neighboring Bulgaria, which saw its Russian gas supplies cut due to EU sanctions on Moscow. Given the tense relations between much of Europe and Russia over the war in Ukraine, Turkey has been trying to diversify its gas imports, with Turkmenistan being a key target.
