Turkic states should increase energy cooperation: Minister

BUDAPEST

The Turkic states should intensify their cooperation in the field of energy, and Türkiye is ready for any sort of partnership in this field, the Turkish energy minister has said, reiterating that the capacity of the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe via Türkiye will be doubled.

Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez attended the Energy Ministers’ Meeting of the Organization of the Turkic States held in Budapest on late March 30. The meeting observed the participation of energy ministers from the member and observer states of the organization, including host country Hungary, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Pointing out growing concerns over energy supply security due to unpredictable market conditions, harsh winter conditions as well as geopolitical tensions, Dönmez said, “That’s why it is of great importance to diversify energy sources and transportation routes for energy supply security, which requires a balanced, long-term and smart planning.”

This obliges the Organization of the Turkic States to increase cooperation, the minister stressed, adding, “Given the fact that our countries have mutually complementary characteristics in many areas, we have to use this to create synergies, especially for the realization of multinational oil and gas and electricity projects.”

Türkiye is paying great importance to sustainable development and working hard to develop its infrastructure for increasing its production of oil and natural gas, establishing a natural gas trade hub on the country’s soils, augmenting the use of renewable energy and diversifying its energy sources by building nuclear plants, the minister noted.

“We, as Türkiye, are ready for any sort of cooperation and sharing know-how and experience with the members and observes of the Organization of the Turkic States,” he said.

TANAP’s capacity will be doubled

On a question, Dönmez underlined that Türkiye is one of the countries that shoulders responsibility when it comes to strengthening the energy security of Europe through strategically important international pipeline projects.

“One of them is the TANAP. It is an important project about flowing the Azerbaijani natural gas to Türkiye and from Türkiye to Italy and to Europe. Its current capacity is 16 billion cubic meters. But we will double its capacity in a very short span of time. This increase in the capacity will be to the benefit of Türkiye and other neighboring countries,” he suggested.

Europe was caught unprepared for the energy crisis in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dönmez explained, stressing many European countries had to prefer liquefied natural gas to meet the demands.

But that increased the energy prices abnormally due to the lack of terminals and the fact that source countries could not meet all the demands, Dönmez added.

The crisis impacted Europe most, Dönmez said, underlining, “We, as Türkiye and the Turkic states, will continue to stand with Europe, particularly the friendly countries, with long and medium term projects.”