BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 1. Türkiye is determined to secure 70–80 percent of contracts as long-term agreements and take the rest of the gas on the spot market, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said in an interview with the Sabah newspaper, Trend reports.
“We are moving towards restructuring our contracts for the import of pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG). On pipeline gas, our negotiations with Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran continue,” Bayraktar explained.
He also said that Türkiye is discussing the possibility of concluding a contract with the American ExxonMobil for the purchase of up to four billion cubic meters of LNG.
“As for Exxon, we have so far worked with the United States only on a spot basis. In other words, if there was cheap LNG, we bought it closer to winter or towards its end. Now we can conclude a contract for the purchase of LNG for a period of 5–10 years. We are discussing an agreement for the purchase of about four billion cubic meters, but perhaps in a smaller volume,” he emphasized.
To note, Türkiye has been receiving pipeline Azerbaijani gas since 2007.
The first gas pipeline for Türkiye since 2007 was the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) pipeline for gas from the Caspian Shah Deniz field. The second pipe, TANAP, was commissioned in 2018.
The contract for the use of BTE will expire at the end of 2024 (it was extended in October 2021 for less than four years), and the details of its possible extension are discussed.
The average annual gas demand in Türkiye is about 50 billion cubic meters.