BOTAŞ seeks more gas from Gazprom

ANKARA - Reuters

Energy Minister Yıldız (L) speaks with Russian President Putin in this file photo. BOTAŞ has started talks with Russia for more gas purchase.

BOTAŞ has started talks with Russian authorities to take spot natural gas from the West Line to avoid problems in meeting demand.

Gazprom responded positively to BOTAŞ’s request, according to officials who spoke to Reuters.

If the deal goes ahead it will be the first time that BOTAŞ will get spot natural gas from a pipeline.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said Nov. 14 that the Cabinet was making legal arrangements for the operation. “With the decree we would get 6 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas [LNG] in 2013,” Yıldız said at that time.

The West Line mainly feeds Istanbul and western cities. Turkey is already getting LNG from Nigeria and Algeria and natural gas from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan.

Turkey gets a total of 14 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia via the West Line and the importation of 4 billion cubic meters of this gas has been handed over to four private sector companies.

During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey last week, Turkey requested an extra 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Gazprom via Blue Stream and Russian officials said they welcomed the decision.