BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 1. Türkiye and Turkmenistan aim for an annual gas trade volume of 15 billion cubic meters over the next 20 years, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources said, commenting on the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar's two-day negotiations in Ashgabat, Trend reports.
"Ankara and Ashgabat may start with an annual volume of two billion cubic meters through the 'swap' method via Iran and Azerbaijan," the ministry pointed out.
Azerbaijan had experience receiving Turkmen gas in 2022–23 when it was delivered to the gas distribution hub in Astara on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.
The Turkish ministry quoted Bayraktar, mentioning that several alternatives are being discussed to increase volumes.
"The most important option could be the construction of a pipeline across the Caspian Sea with much larger volumes of natural gas supplies, as well as a long-term agreement for transporting this natural gas to western markets, to Türkiye, and Europe," Bayraktar said.
He also mentioned that Turkmenistan's investment plan for natural gas storage is of interest.
"The Turkish BOTAS corporation also has very important competencies and infrastructure for storage. We have approximately six billion cubic meters of natural gas storage capacity in Türkiye. We want to increase this to 12 billion cubic meters by 2028," the ministry noted, citing Bayraktar.
Earlier this summer, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that it is "only a matter of time before Turkmen gas is supplied to Türkiye and Europe via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which can be expanded".
Previously this year, Bayraktar and Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy signed an agreement to expand the capacity of several routes, and BOTAS and SOCAR reached an agreement on transporting Turkmen natural gas to Türkiye through Azerbaijan.