Türkiye seeks new energy partnerships with Turkmenistan

ANKARA

Türkiye is seeking to develop new partnerships with Turkmenistan for the development of oil and natural gas fields, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

Bayraktar, who held talks in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, met with the chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, and Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhammedov, the Turkish Energy Ministry said in a statement.

In Ashgabat, the minister delivered a speech at the "Year of Peace and Security: International Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation in Ensuring Sustainable Development."

Türkiye wants to establish partnerships with Turkmenistan on the development of oil and natural gas fields both on the land of Turkmenistan and in the Caspian Sea, Bayraktar said.

He stressed that following the arrival of Turkmen gas to Türkiye in early March, relations between the two countries in the field of energy are deepening.

"Thus, for the first time, we are supplying natural gas through a pipeline from a country that does not border us,” he said.

This step is of great importance not only for the diversification of Türkiye’s natural gas supply but also for the transportation of Turkmenistan's natural gas to the West and Europe, the minister added.

Bayraktar said that they hope that in the future, with the construction of the Trans Caspian Natural Gas Pipeline, more natural gas can be transferred from Turkmenistan to Türkiye and through Türkiye to Europe.

“At the same time, there are great opportunities in the upstream sector that will make this connection more meaningful. Therefore, we are also interested in partnering with Turkmenistan in the development of oil and gas fields in Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea,” he said.

Türkiye is shaping its energy strategy on two main challenges, according to Bayraktar.

Bayraktar noted that one of these challenges is energy security, pointing out that Türkiye's energy demand has tripled in the last 20 years and will increase by approximately 5 percent each year for the next 20 years.

Stating that the second main challenge is energy independence, Bayraktar emphasized that Türkiye imported all of its natural gas until the discovery of the Sakarya Gas Field and that 90 percent of its oil needs today are met through imports.

In Ashgabat, Bayraktar also met with Batır Amanov, the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of Turkmenistan responsible for petroleum and natural gas, and Maksat Babayev, the president of Turkmengaz. They discussed the latest situation in the energy projects jointly developed by the two countries.