Türkiye, Turkmenistan aim for 15 bcm of annual gas trade

Türkiye and Turkmenistan plan to achieve an annual gas trade volume of 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) over the next 20 years, totaling 300 bcm, the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry has announced.

To reach this target, the two countries need a pipeline, but in the meantime, they aim to start with an initial volume of 2 bcm through a swap method, according to a statement quoting Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, News.Az reports citing Anadolu Agency.

The announcement followed Bayraktar’s two-day visit to Turkmenistan, where he met with top energy officials.

Ankara is working on transporting Turkmenistan’s gas to Türkiye and then onward to Europe, Bayraktar said, noting that there are several alternatives to realize this project.

He said there are several alternatives to realize the project.

“The ultimate and the most important one is to have a pipeline through the Caspian Sea with a much larger amount of natural gas and a long-term agreement to transport this natural gas to the western markets, to Türkiye and to Europe,” he said.

Bayraktar, pointing to other cooperation areas on natural gas, noted Turkmenistan's investment plan on natural gas storage.

"BOTAS (Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) has a very important competence and infrastructure in this regard," he said. "We have approximately 6 bcm of natural gas storage capacity in Türkiye. We want to increase this to 12 bcm by 2028.”

News.Az