BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 30. SOCAR may need to agree with Turkmenistan and Iran on the issue of transit of Turkmen gas to Türkiye, an informed source told Trend.
“Today in Ashgabat, the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources started negotiations on the details of a possible transit of 1.5–2 bcm of gas per year overland through Iran and Azerbaijan (via the gas compressor station (GCS) in Astara). SOCAR and BOTAS signed a relevant transit agreement in Baku on June 4, but SOCAR needs more negotiations with the Iranian and Turkmen parties to make such transit possible starting in 2025,” the informed source emphasized.
According to him, the GCS in Astara is capable of receiving and distributing up to 5.5 bcm of gas annually.
“We will wait for the outcome of the visit of the head of the Turkish Energy Ministry to Ashgabat. In general, we have several joint ideas with Türkiye on gas cooperation, bilateral and multilateral; we are carefully analyzing them,” the source noted.
Such ideas include the sale of Azerbaijani gas purchased by Türkiye to consumers in Europe.
“It is not about re-exporting gas, but specifically about gas trade. The EU and Türkiye are discussing this mechanism. Negotiations are ongoing,” the source stressed.
He confirmed that, upon agreement with the mechanism, Türkiye will actually begin to function as a serious gas hub.
To note, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar earlier announced to Turkish media that in negotiations with the EU, Türkiye proposed to buy more gas from Russia and sell the same volumes of Azerbaijani gas to European customers.
Therefore, the EU countries will not violate international sanctions against Russia.
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