Türkiye aims to shape the project of making the country an energy hub within one year, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez said as Ankara has stepped up for energy infrastructure.

"This issue needs to be evaluated separately from a legal, trade and technical perspective," Dönmez told a group of journalists at the Filyos Natural Gas Processing Plant in the Black Sea region’s Zonguldak province.

Dönmez elaborated that such an energy hub would not solely rely on Russian gas, but that sources would be diversified.

"We are in talks with both Russia and other source countries. Mr. Putin had such a proposal. His and similar proposals have contributed to accelerating the process."

Saying that this project cannot be expected to be realized within three to five months, the minister said: "Our goal is to bring such a market to life within a year. Maybe we can start with a more limited number of markets in the transition period before a permanent market. Then the time will be moved up a little more."

"Natural gas is not coming solely from Russia – with Moscow, we already have gas trade based on contracts. We buy this gas because we need it. For such a market we need new contracts and new suppliers," Dönmez said, indicating that Türkiye’s own consumption is around 55-60 billion cubic meters (bcm).

The minister added, "There is a need for new contracts for gas to be exported and sold to Europe," though it is not certain yet who would be these new suppliers and buyers.

Such a market within the scope of building an energy hub would give buyers the opportunity to choose from which supplier they would like to buy their gas.

"If there is to be a market, then both those who want to sell it and those who want to buy it will come here," he highlighted. "We will present such a technical and technological infrastructure to the market participants here. The buyer and the seller can buy from whom they want at the price they want."

Russian President Vladimir Putin first proposed creating a gas base in Türkiye in October as a means to redirect supplies from the damaged Nord Stream pipelines and export them to the European market, an idea that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has supported.

Erdoğan previously said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for the potential gas distribution center, adding that Türkiye’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.

Türkiye is home to seven international natural gas pipelines and one of the ways Russian gas reaches Europe is through the dual TurkStream natural gas pipeline. With a total capacity of 31.5 bcm, each line has an annual capacity of 15.75 bcm.

The European Union, which previously turned to Russia for about 40% of its gas needs, is seeking to wean itself off Russian energy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian gas covers almost half of Turkish energy needs. The country also imports gas from Iran and Azerbaijan through pipelines and buys liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, Nigeria, Norway, Algeria and the U.S.

Dönmez reiterated that a trilateral summit was held last week between Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan for leaders, foreign ministers, energy ministers as well as transportation ministers.

"As Türkiye, we support the entry of various sources. We have an agreement with Turkmenistan on gas supply. Unfortunately, we did not find a way, a route. Turkmenistan is not physically our neighbor. You can get gas from the south of the Caspian via Iran, or you can go through the Caspian via Azerbaijan and Georgia. We received the instruction of the three ministers to come together and accelerate these works. We formed our working groups," Dönmez said, indicating that these groups would discuss alternative solutions and report them to the leaders.

"We aim to complete the preparatory work within a month."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Ankara was getting close to a "positive point" on selling Turkmen gas to European markets through Türkiye and that talks on the issue could be concluded early in 2023.

Turkmenistan, an observer member of the Organization of Turkish States, is among the world's major gas suppliers. Turkmenistan has proven gas reserves of approximately 13.6 trillion cubic meters.

The minister added that the capacity of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), a critical project carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan’s gas fields to Turkish markets and eventually to Europe, would be increased twofold within three or four years.

"This will be a gradual process, which means that the amount will increase every year."

‘Türkiye, best route’

Speaking on potential cooperation on energy with Israel, Dönmez said that there has been a change of government in the country and that Ankara had started talks with the previous one. The minister said that there was no change in Türkiye’s stance on cooperation.

"The most economic and rapid route to bring Eastern Mediterranean gas to markets is through Türkiye," Dönmez underlined. "Furthermore, if Türkiye realizes the project of becoming an energy hub soon, it will be an opportunity for them (Israel)."

In January 2022, Erdoğan announced that Türkiye was ready to cooperate with Israel on a gas pipeline project in the Eastern Mediterranean. Following the 2010 crisis, Israel created a strategic alliance with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, two actors with long-standing acrimony toward Türkiye, and in recent years held regular trilateral meetings and conducted joint military drills. The trio was part of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum established in 2019 with other states, including Egypt and Jordan, without Türkiye. In 2020, Israel, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration signed the EastMed deal for a pipeline to ship gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, triggering objections from Ankara.

Future road map

As the end of the year is approaching, Dönmez also spoke on Türkiye's future road map on energy.

According to plans, Türkiye wants to decrease its foreign dependency on energy, which is 71% as of 2021, to under 50% in the next 10 years and to 13% in 2053.

"On the road to energy independence, oil and natural gas discoveries made or to be made on land and at sea will be the main determinant. In line with our goal of being among the top 10 economies of the world, we aim to be among the top 10 countries that provide the most energy supply in the world," Dönmez highlighted, saying that nuclear energy will have a share of around 10%.

"The transformation of the sectors on energy efficiency will increasingly continue. Emissions from electricity and heat generation will be reduced in line with the 2053 net zero emissions target. While the share of fossil fuels in the energy supply will decrease significantly, the share of renewable energy will increase," he added.

Meanwhile, construction is ongoing on an onshore gas processing facility at the port of Filyos.

Asked whether Filyos would be used for all natural gas found in the Black Sea, Dönmez said: "The reservoir itself and the technical team will decide this. Filyos will be a very important center for Türkiye’s natural gas supply."

540 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas reserves have been gradually discovered in the Black Sea since August 2020.

The world's largest sea exploration (405 billion cubic meters) was found in Tuna-1well in the Sakarya Gas Field in 2020. Amasra-1 was the world's second-largest discovery in 2021 (135 billion cubic meters). Work has also been completed in the Çaycuma-1 well.

"The data for Çaycuma is positive," Dönmez said.

In 2022, we drilled 94 exploration wells and 56 production wells. In 2023, we will reach a total of 207 wells with 134 exploration and 73 production. We decided to increase it even more. We need to increase these numbers at least two times more."