Türkiye and Turkmenistan have signed an agreement to facilitate the flow of Turkmen natural gas, a key step in strengthening energy cooperation between the two nations, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Tuesday.
"We took a historic step in Türkiye-Turkmenistan energy cooperation," Bayraktar wrote on social media platform X.
The deal between Türkiye's state-owned pipeline operator BOTAŞ and Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz aims to begin gas flow on March 1, Bayraktar said.
"We have reached the concrete output of the memorandum of understanding to develop our cooperation in the field of natural gas," he said, referring to a March 2024 deal that laid the groundwork for future hydrocarbon collaboration.
Last year's pact was signed in the presence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, the president of Turkmenistan.
Türkiye consumes more than 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year. It relies on a mix of piped gas from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, along with liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from various suppliers.
"With this agreement, which we have been working on for many years, we will further advance the strategic cooperation between the two countries while strengthening the natural gas supply security of our country and region," Bayraktar said in a statement.
The minister had previously said Türkiye could buy up to 2 bcm of gas annually from Turkmenistan, with the gas expected to be transported via Iran's existing natural gas network.
Specific details regarding the volume of gas to be supplied under the new agreement and the exact terms of transit through Iran were not disclosed.
