Russia keen on gas investment in Turkey

ANKARA - Reuters

Energy Minister Yıldız chats with the reporters in a plane on his way back to Turkey from Norway, where he met with some of top energy officials in the country. AA Photo

Russia has expressed interest in acquiring or building Turkish gas-fired power plants and will also propose building a natural gas storage facility here, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız told reporters.

Russian energy officials are investigating a location for the facility, officials said.

Turkey has storage of about 2 bcm and is building an additional 5 bcm of capacity. Officials say this still falls short of its storage needs.

Yıldız also said he did not expect that political tensions in Ukraine would affect the flow of gas to Turkey on the Western pipeline, which delivers 16 bcm of Russia fuel to Turkey.

“I do not foresee any cuts in natural gas on the Western pipeline but if there were, some issues on Turkish supply security would emerge, but not for electricity. I don’t expect such a risk,” Yıldız said.

Yıldız also said Turkey hopes to renew its liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts with Algeria but it must first ensure that deliveries are timely. Turkey’s contract to acquire 4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of LNG from Algeria’s Sonatrach expires at the end of the year, and officials from both countries are in talks to renew it, Yıldız said.

“We want to renew this contract, and they do as well. We have reached a basic understanding but we made it known that we do have a couple of wishes, the most important of which is that we want the deliveries made on time,” he said.