Russia Turkey tension brings gas trade on top of agenda
Date
10/9/2015 12:20:22 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly)Although Turkey imports half of its gas from Russia there are alternatives BOTAS officials say
With tensions rising between Russia and Turkey due to Russian warplanes' infringement on Turkey's airspace and Russia's latest intervention in Syria natural gas trade between the two countries has become a topic pushed to the top of the agenda.
According to Russian news agency Sputnik on Tuesday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the natural gas deal with Turkey as Russia’s second biggest gas client is an issue that Russia should take into account.
Turkey imported 49.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year. Russia’s share of these imports was 54.7 percent corresponding to 26.9 billion cubic meters according to data gathered from Turkey's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS).
While Turkey imports Russian gas through two gas pipelines - the West Line and Blue Stream another mega project dubbed the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline to transmit Russian gas to Europe while bypassing Ukraine is also being negotiated between the two countries.
Although Alexey Miller the head of Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Wednesday that political factors will not affect agreements between Russia and Turkey over the proposed Turkish Stream the recent violation of Turkey’s border by Russian airplanes has raised questions over the fate of the project.
Aside from Russia Turkey imports gas from Iran and Azerbaijan at 8.9 and 6 billion cubic meters respectively.
In addition to its pipeline imports Turkey also imports liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Algeria and Nigeria at an annual rate of 7.2 billion cubic meters according to BOTAS' statistics.
Turkey produces nearly half of its electricity from natural gas and is therefore heavily dependent on gas imports.
- Turkey’s alternatives to Russian gas
In the event of a disruption to Russian gas supplies BOTAS officials stated that Turkey can cushion the negative effects through increasing its LNG imports. However they also point out that it is an expensive solution which is not very sustainable in the long term.
Another option could be through the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project which will become operational by 2018. Turkey plans to import an additional 6 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan once the project starts.
Meanwhile discussions to double up gas imports from Iran are still ongoing. This could potentially allow Turkey to import 20 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Iran.
In addition negotiations on importing gas from northern Iraq by 2017 are also taking place.
Turkey and Turkmenistan have signed a number of memoranda of understanding over the previous years however the two countries currently lack the necessary infrastructure to progress bilateral gas trade.
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