Türkiye is set to start exports of natural gas to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan this week, the country's energy minister announced on Sunday, also evaluating the planned resumption of flows through the Ceyhan pipeline and cooperation with Russia.
"We are starting to export natural gas to Nakhchivan. The Iğdır-Nakhchivan pipeline has been completed. This week, we will have provided this natural gas pipeline, a new connection for Türkiye," said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.
He noted that, besides Bulgaria and Greece, Türkiye would add one more point to its natural gas exports.
The foundation of the Iğdır-Nakhchivan Natural Gas Pipeline was laid late in 2023 with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
The pipeline, running from the country’s easternmost province of Iğdır to Sederek in western Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan, envisages supplying the region with an annual capacity of 500 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Bayraktar also stated that he met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak and Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov as part of his contacts in Moscow.
"In addition to our current cooperation and how we can improve our trade volume, we also have new issues on the agenda," he said.
He mentioned that the upcoming year will mark four decades since Russia began supplying Türkiye with gas and said: "Therefore, this is also an important milestone for us and while advancing our cooperation in natural gas, the provision of shipments to Türkiye under more favorable conditions and of course the natural gas trade hub we plan to establish in Türkiye were among our agenda items today."
The minister also said that Russia is "also interested" in the nuclear power plant project planned to be built in Sinop, adding, however, that their main focus is to put the first reactor in Akkuyu into operation as soon as possible and that they have held talks with Rosatom on this issue.
Bayraktar, who pointed out that Türkiye is a very large market for natural gas, also said that with its location and infrastructure investments, it is in a position to help countries in the region with supply security.
Moreover, he emphasized that Türkiye has now become a natural gas producer with the work in the Black Sea, and said they were are also working to increase the capacity of the connections with the neighboring countries. "There are serious opportunities in this sense," he added.
Evaluating the arrival of gas from Turkmenistan, Bayraktar said this gas is currently being brought to Türkiye via Iran via swaps.
"This agreement is very important for Türkiye's supply security and for Türkiye to increase and diversify its gas resources," he added.
Turkmen gas is also important in terms of reducing natural gas costs, the minister said, suggesting it is being supplied at a "competitive price" in economic terms.
Bayraktar, meanwhile, pointed out that they aim to increase the volume in question, and said, "In the medium and long term, the transportation of Turkmen gas to Türkiye and Europe via a pipeline via the Caspian Sea will actually be the most ideal and correct method in terms of technical and commercial aspects."
Touching upon the Nakhchivan gas supply, the minister said the ceremony is planned, with the attendance of Erdoğan and Aliyev.
"This week, we will have provided this natural gas pipeline, a new connection to Türkiye. Nakhchivan's gas needs will now be met through Türkiye," he added.
On the topic of the awaited restart of crude flows through the pipeline with Iraq, Bayraktar said Türkiye wants it to operate at maximum capacity, reiterating it was ready for operations for nearly 1.5 years.
The exports were halted by Türkiye in March 2023 following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion over what it said were unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
Türkiye has said since late 2023 that it is ready to resume operations at the pipeline, carrying oil exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Bayraktar told Reuters last month that Ankara had not received confirmation on resuming flows. Last weekend, the Iraqi Oil Ministry declared that the procedures had been completed to allow oil flows and asked the KRG to start delivering crude to the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) for exports to resume.
Yet, on Friday, eight international oil firms operating in Iraq's Kurdistan region said they would not resume oil exports through Türkiye's Ceyhan despite an announcement from Baghdad that the restart was imminent.
"This pipeline has been ready for 1.5 years already. We want the Türkiye-Iraq pipeline, especially the two pipelines of 650 kilometers from our Silopi to Ceyhan, to be used," Bayraktar said.
"We want some of the oil passing through this line to go to the refinery in Kırıkkale and also via ships through Ceyhan to refineries in Türkiye or to different refineries in the world so that the capacity of the line can be used at the maximum level," he added.
Bayraktar also said a planned trade route project involving Türkiye and Iraq, called the Development Road project, included the construction of a pipeline reaching the Persian Gulf for the Iraqi oil flows to go to global markets via Türkiye.
