Turkey will automatically become a gas trading center (gas hub) in the coming years as its liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure expands and its sources are further diversified. “One of the components of our gas diversification strategy is the purchase of liquefied natural gas. In the last eight years, we have made so many investments that our liquefaction capacity has reached 160 million cubic meters. Thus, we have become a country that can easily import up to half of the required volume of gas in the form of LNG. We also have a legislative framework ready to sell this liquefied gas, sending it by tankers”, said the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic Alparslan Bayraktar on the TV channel TRT..
He recalled that earlier in the USA “agreements were reached on supplies of liquefied natural gas, there are agreements with Azerbaijan to increase the volumes of supplies and there is a project to supply Turkmen gas to Turkey”. All this, according to him, is an integral part of the project for an international gas trading center.
The minister called the pipe "Turkish Stream" "one of the most important Turkish source diversification projects" PG. “Before that, we received part of the gas from Russia – transit through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. Now there is no need for such a transit and we receive this gas directly through the Black Sea, he noted.
„We have a commercial, technical and legal infrastructure and a very well-functioning energy exchange. We sell gas to Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. All this makes our country the center of gas trade. We want to increase the volume of our underground LNG storage from 5.8 billion cubic meters to 12 billion cubic meters. m by 2028. We will be able to store 25% of the gas in liquefied form”, Bayraktar said. Turkey continues to consider the gas hub project strategic. “To develop this, we need more sources, we need to expand the pumping opportunities for export to Bulgaria and Greece. Perhaps with Iraq some opportunities will open up. After taking all these steps, we will automatically become a center for gas trade”, noted the minister.
Bayraktar noted that the own production of gas and other energy resources is not so important directly for the operation of the gas trading center and the energy exchange. “It is certainly important for us to use our own energy resources, gas, oil and renewable energy sources. But on the other hand, it is extremely important to diversify imports as much as possible. We need to get energy resources from different countries and in different forms. Azerbaijani gas flows to Turkey via two separate lines. Now there will be a third, this is the Ygdir - Nakhichevan gas pipeline. “By this winter, Azerbaijani gas should start flowing through Turkey to Nakhchivan,” Bayraktar added.