Turkey's standing in gas pipeline games; Expert
A senior expert in the field of energy Morteza Behroozifar told “Turkey does not want to be a transit route for Iranian gas.”
Speaking to ILNA news correspondent, the energy expert refereed to reduce gas consumption in Turkey and said that Turkey's main energy policy is only to buy gas from Iran and re-export it.
“Turkey's policy is to introduce itself as a regional gas trade hub, it means that Ankara wants to buy gas from neighboring countries and re-export it to European countries.”
“By launching smart game between Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia, Turkey is looking to pay a better price for gas,” he added.
Turkey will be able to avail of cheaper natural gas through the new TurkStream pipeline that will begin operating in the coming month, Professor Salih Yilmaz, president of Ankara based think-tank institute of Russian studies (RUSEN) told Anadolu Agency.
Behroozifar confirmed that maybe that's why the exploded pipeline is not repaired up to now.
Natural gas exports from Iran to Turkey were halted in March after an explosion and fire at a pipeline just inside the Turkish border.
Iran is Turkey's second-biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. The Turkish state gas importer Botas imports up to 9.6 Bcm/year of Iranian gas via the pipeline under a 25-year contract, which runs to July 2026.
The Former Secretary General of Gas Exporting Countries Forum Mohammad Hossein Adeli said to ILNA in another interview that Iran should do its best to save Turkey’s export market because Turkey once thought about the transit of Iran’s gas to Europe but now due to the drastic developments in the gas market geopolitically, Turkey considers itself a key player and it wants to take advantage of it.
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