The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, Hilmi Guler, stated in a ceremony for sending the 100th tanker with Azerbaijani oil from the Ceyhan Port of Turkey, that there are plans to transport Azerbaijani gas to Greece via the territory of Turkey in July 2007, Trend reports.
According to him, the Energy Minister of Greece will visit Turkey in May 2007 to agree upon this issue.
Azerbaijani gas is produced in the field of Shah Deniz and transported via the South Caucasus pipeline. Presently repair work is being carried out in the first exploitation well in Shah Deniz. The repair work resulted in the termination of gas production.
Guler said that the reinstating of gas production in Shah Deniz has been scheduled for March 6th 2007.
Turkey plans to re-export part of the gas purchased from Shah Deniz to Greece and use the remaining part for internal needs.
The Minister stressed that resolving the differences over the legal status of the Caspian Sea assumes great significance from the point of view of supplying energy to the European Continent.
According to the Minister, it is not expedient to wait for problems to be resolved within a short time.
Touching upon the transportation of Turkmen gas to Europe through the territory of Iran, the Turkish Energy Minister said that negotiations are already being held with Tehran.
According to him, the Iranian side has made proposals and Ankara is considering them.