Iranian official: Iran can seize Turkey’s energy market

Hamid-Reza Salehi said in an exclusive interview with ILNA news agency that currently, Turkey imports gas from Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran by pipeline, with 55% of this market owned by Russia and the rest by Iran and Azerbaijan.

“So the resumption of gas imports from after a 3-month hiatus should be considered auspicious.”

Iran has resumed the export of natural gas to neighboring Turkey caused by an explosion that hit the pipeline on Turkish soil on March 31.

The Iranian official referred to the problems encountered for the “Blue Stream pipeline” and confirmed “Iran must develop its LPG to influence the Turkish market.”

“Ankara now imports gas by ship from the United States, Qatar, and Algeria, and Iran can sell its gas to the country on better terms.”

The Blue Stream pipeline delivering Russian gas to Turkey, due to be re-launched after maintenance in May, remains idle, three sources told Reuters on Friday, as Ankara is increasing purchases of super-cooled gas to replace supplies from Gazprom.

Relations between Russia and Turkey, one of Moscow’s biggest consumers of natural gas, have been patchy for the past years and are beset by the numbers of issues, including conflicts in Syria and Libya as well as status of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia.

The Blue Stream pipeline, launched in the early 2000s, moved 11.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Turkey last year out of a total of 15.5 bcm exported.

While reducing Russian pipeline gas imports, Turkey plans to buy at least one third of its needs this year in the form of LNG, with cargoes coming from the United States, Nigeria, Algeria, Qatar and also Russia.

Russia was Turkey’s top gas supplier in March last year but as its sales dropped as much as 72% it now ranks as the fourth-biggest supplier, according to Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority.

END