Fatih Donmez: Gas supplies via Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum being discussed

Turkey and Azerbaijan are discussing the supply of natural gas transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said in an interview with Haberturk, Report informs.

On October 15, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a trade agreement on the supply of an additional 11 billion cubic meters of gas through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline, which will be valid until the end of 2024.

“Our previous contracts for the pipeline were long-term in nature, for 20-30 years. Now we are going for shorter, medium-term deals. Naturally, long-term contracts matter in terms of security of supply. Now we need to revise prices for short, medium-term trades,” Donmez added.

He noted that the Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRU)) in Izmir can pump 22 million cubic meters of gas per day into the system: “We have increased the daily capacity of the terminal in Aliaga, and now it is about 40 million cubic meters. The output capacity of the terminal at Marmara-Ereglisi has increased to 38 million cubic meters. From four terminals, we managed to supply more than 100 million cubic meters of gas to the system. Iran supplied 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, or 30 million cubic meters per day.”

“Previously, we received Azerbaijani gas only through the South Caucasus gas pipeline, and now it is transported through the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The gas that we received from Russia came from Ukraine. Therefore, we must plan the volumes in accordance with the normal flow in the system,” he said.

The Turkish energy minister said that new contracts for liquefied natural gas are being concluded: “We renewed contracts with Russia at the end of last year. After the start of Black Sea gas production, we will decide on a supply program in the short, medium and long term, taking into account partial purchases from abroad.”