Türkiye is looking at ways to help Syria close its power gap and strengthen its infrastructure, according to a top energy official, who says Ankara may also work with the war-torn nation's new leadership on oil and natural gas.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar revealed that Türkiye is working on solutions to meet Syria's urgent energy needs, starting with electricity imports and transitioning to infrastructure development.
After backing the Syrian opposition forces who toppled longtime dictator Bashar Assad this month after a 13-year civil war, Türkiye has emerged as one of the main power brokers in its southern neighbor and has vowed to help rebuild the country.
Türkiye was one of the first countries to reopen its embassy in Damascus, while its foreign minister and intelligence chief both met with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa there.
Bayraktar said a delegation, which he may chair, was planning to travel to Syria on Saturday to discuss electricity transmission, infrastructure and other matters.
"We must very rapidly provide electricity to parts of Syria that do not have electricity, with imports in the initial phase, he was cited Friday as telling a meeting with Turkish media representatives.
In the medium-term, we also plan to increase the set electricity power, the production capacity there," the minister added.
"There is a need for everything in Syria. We will work on the infrastructure master plan with the leaders there," he said, adding Türkiye could also send electricity to Lebanon via Syria.
Currently, Türkiye supplies approximately 210 megawatts of electricity to Syria, said Bayraktar. But the country’s war-damaged infrastructure has an existing capacity of only about 3,000 megawatts, according to 2022 data provided by the minister.
He highlighted plans to work on increasing this capacity.
Nearly 60% of Syria's electricity is produced from oil, with about 38% coming from gas, according to Bayraktar.
Before the conflict, there was a 400-kilovolt high-voltage network from Birecik hydroelectric power plant, located in the Southeastern Anatolia region, along the Euphrates River, to Syria's Aleppo.
However, Bayraktar said the status of the segment beyond al-Rai town in Syria remains unknown.
Bayraktar said Ankara was working on using Syria's oil and natural gas resources for the country's reconstruction, as production of both had significantly fallen during the war.
"There are many topics that need to mature, from forming an oil pipeline from Syria to Türkiye, merging this with our Iraq-Türkiye pipeline," he was cited as saying, adding Ankara and Damascus could collaborate on oil and natural gas in the near future.
In the early 2000s, Syria produced 600,000 barrels of oil per day. However, output plummeted to as low as 30,000 barrels per day due to the war.
Separately, Bayraktar said Türkiye was ready to cooperate with other countries on energy in Somalia, where a Turkish drill ship is carrying out hydrocarbon exploration, added that "there are offers."
NATO member Türkiye has ramped up its presence and influence in Africa in recent years, increasing trade nearly eightfold, giving diplomatic and military support to some countries, and inking deals in various fields.
Bayraktar also noted Türkiye had signed a new agreement with Niger for three new gold mining fields in Agadez, in addition to the ones the sides agreed months ago.
In October, Türkiye inked a cooperation agreement with Niger on mining, after having signed a similar cooperation deal with the West African nation on oil and gas in July.
Under the deal, Türkiye's Mineral Research and Exploration Directorate was granted authority over three gold mining fields, protected by Niger security forces, and planned to start production there soon.
Bayraktar designated 2025 as a crucial decision year for nuclear energy.
He underscored the need for two additional large conventional nuclear power plants in Türkiye, alongside the Akkuyu that is under construction near the Mediterranean port city of Mersin.
The $20 billion, 4,800 megawatts (MW) Akkuyu plant will bring Türkiye into the small club of nations with civil nuclear energy.
The country plans to launch trial production of the first reactor next year. The remaining three reactors are expected to come online by the end of 2028.
Türkiye plans a second plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop and a third in the northwest region of Thrace.
The goal is to reach 7,700 MW of nuclear generation capacity by 2035, Bayraktar said.
Eventul target is to have 15,000 MW of nuclear capacity. Türkiye looks to complement these with up to 5,000 MW of small modular reactors (SMRs).
Bayraktar revealed that production at the vast gas reserve in the Black Sea is expected to exceed 9 million cubic meters by the first quarter of 2025.
The Sakarya gas field, which has been discovered gradually since August 2020, is believed to contain 710 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas.
The current output meets the gas needs of approximately 2.9 million households, said Bayraktar.
The daily production is expected to reach 20 million cubic meters by 2026. That is aimed to eventually be lifted to up to 45 million cubic meters, according to Bayraktar.
"Over 40 new wells will be drilled by 2028," he said.
Bayraktar also said works on establishing a natural gas hub in Türkiye were ongoing.
The plan was first floated by Russian President Putin in 2022 after the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. Russia seeks to replace lost sales to Europe, supporting Ankara's long-held desire to function as an exchange for energy-starved countries.
Bayraktar also expressed optimism about what he said were significant cooperation opportunities with the new Trump administration in the gas sector.
He mentioned receiving offers related to Black Sea gas and welcomed these proposals.
Türkiye's liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities are over 90% full, and half of the contracted deliveries from Iran have already been received, said Bayraktar.
He assured that there is no risk for this winter.
Highlighting 2024 as a record year for solar and wind energy, Bayraktar announced plans to establish over 6,000 megawatts of new installed capacity.
He added that the energy storage market has also grown to 33,000-34,000 megawatts, with ongoing discussions with China and other countries,
Bayraktar also mentioned discussions with France on offshore wind farms and potential collaborations with other countries.
