Bayraktar: Baku, Ankara can co-op on increasing gas supplies to Bulgaria

Ankara is considering the possibility of cooperation with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) in increasing gas supplies to Bulgaria, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Türkiye Alparslan Bayraktar said in an interview with Bloomberg, Report informs.

"Türkiye is ready to sell more natural gas to the European Union but wants long-term commitments to justify the infrastructure investment needed. What we need is an increase in the Türkiye-Bulgaria interconnection capacity, that can currently only receive half of the 7 billion cubic meters per year that Türkiye can technically supply," he noted.

Ankara could work with Azerbaijan’s national energy company Socar to increase that to as much as 10 billion cubic meters, but wants assurances about Europe’s demand, he said.

The minister also called the scenarios currently being considered for alternative gas supplies to Europe to replace Russian “blue” fuel “convoluted.”