The creation of a gas hub in Turkey has been delayed because Turkey cannot agree with Gazprom on who will manage the hub.
Turkey’s gas hub faces delays. As Reuters reports, citing sources, Turkey and Gazprom continue discussions about who will manage the hub.
The idea of its creation was voiced almost a year ago by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. The talk was about selling gas to Europe, which can no longer be supplied via Nord Stream. Turkey supported the project and expressed a desire to create an international hub, where, in addition to Gazprom, there would be other suppliers – Azerbaijan, Iran…
“There are management issues, they are arguing about who should manage the hub,” the source told Reuters. A source close to Gazprom confirmed to the agency that the management issue exists.
For now, Turkey is a transit country through which both Russian and Azerbaijani gas enters Europe.
Turkish sources told The Middle East Eye that Ankara wants to obtain rights to re-export Russian gas and have private companies trade mixtures from different sources on the stock exchange. The authorities want their own reference price to appear, the publication’s interlocutors added.
As noted by Reuters, some European capitals fear that the hub will allow Russian gas to be masked. Its import to the EU is not subject to sanctions, but, for example, it is denied access to joint gas purchases by EU countries, which Brussels wants to make regular.
As reported EADaily in early September in Sochi, after a meeting with the President of Turkey, the Russian leader said that Gazprom had handed over to the Turkish Botas a draft road map for the creation of a gas hub and organizational issues were on the agenda.
“I would like to emphasize that Russia has always been and will be a reliable, responsible gas supplier. We intend to continue to provide the Turkish economy with this cheap, but highly efficient and environmentally friendly type of fuel. Moreover, we are ready to export gas in transit through Turkey to consumers in third countries – where our partners are interested in this. It is for this purpose that they proposed creating a regional gas hub in Turkey,” said Vladimir Putin.
He explained that Gazprom has already handed over to the Botash company a draft road map for the implementation of this project.
“On the agenda is the establishment of a joint working group, coordination of the legal framework for the operation of the hub, schemes for trading and transfer of purchased gas,” the Russian president noted. According to him, Russia and Turkey closely cooperate in the gas sector: “Last year, Russia supplied 21.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey via the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines, and in January-August of this year – over ten billion cubic meters”.
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2023-09-14 16:53:00
