Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 28 / Trend A.Badalova /
Turkey will begin to import gas from new sources this year, Turkey's energy minister Taner Yildiz said in interview with broadcast CNBC-e, Dow Jones reported on Tuesday.
According to the minister, Turkey, which looks to diversify its energy supplies, is holding talks with a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia and Libya.
At the same time minister stressed, that the talks weren't part of a plan to reduce energy purchases from Iran, which is subject to international sanctions from the US and European Union.
Yildiz also repeated the government line that there is no obligation for Turkey to enforce the tougher sanctions outlined by Washington and Brussels, and would continue to buy Iranian oil and gas.
Iran sold about 750 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey in the first 10 months of the year (Iran's solar year ends in March), which is more than the same period of last year.
Currently, Iran daily exports about 30 mln/cbm of gas to Turkey. Turkey's natural gas import from Iran totaled almost 7.8 million cubic meters per day.
The EU formally imposed an oil embargo on Iran and agreed to a freeze on the assets of the Iranian Central Bank on January 23, but existing contracts will be honored until July 1.