Türkiye is in discussions with Turkmenistan about lengthening a natural gas supply agreement by an additional five years, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Tuesday, noting that the deal is anticipated to be finalized before the end of the year.
Bayraktar's remarks came as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz were scheduled to meet officials from Turkmenistan in Ankara later in the day.
Earlier this month, Bayraktar said that Türkiye and Turkmenistan had signed a deal for the supply of Turkmen natural gas to Türkiye.
The agreement between Türkiye's state-owned pipeline operator BOTAŞ and Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz is set to begin on March 1, with gas flows of 1.3 billion cubic meters via Iran.
"1.3 billion cubic meters means natural gas for about 1.5 million households," Bayraktar told the Hurriyet daily on Tuesday.
"We want to do this long-term. We have a long-term goal of a swap agreement. We are working on a program that will likely extend to a five-year swap agreement within this year," he said.
Bayraktar stated that Türkmen gas has a 27-year story, recalling an agreement signed in 1998, which involved the gas coming through the Caspian Sea. That never came to reality due to uncertainties, which the minister said prompted them to work on another formula, including bringing gas through Iran.
"Ideally, our main goal is to bring Türkmen gas to Türkiye through a pipeline that transits the Caspian, as originally planned," he added.
Türkiye consumes more than 50 billion cubic meters of gas every year and relies on a mix of piped gas from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran, along with liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from various suppliers.
Russia also seeks to boost its gas exports to Türkiye. It plans to set up a gas hub in the country in order to offset the loss of the lucrative European gas market following its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Russia may supply up to 55 bcm of gas per year to Iran.
Bayraktar also said that Türkiye aimed to sign a license for oil and gas exploration in Somali land blocks on March 1. Türkiye is conducting exploration off Somalia as part of an agreement with its East African ally.
"We already have licenses for three sea blocks. We will also agree on new land blocks this Saturday," the minister added.
Bayraktar said Türkiye is also interested in two fields in Azerbaijan, as well as in some fields both on land and in the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan.
On Türkiye's vast reserve in the Black Sea, Bayraktar said the daily production would increase to 9.5 million cubic meters as of the end of March or the beginning of April.
The current output stands at about 7 million cubic meters, meeting the needs of approximately 3 million households.
The reserve, which has been discovered gradually since August 2020, is believed to contain 710 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. Gas extracted from the field is processed and distributed through a facility at a port in the northern Zonguldak province.
The production is aimed to be doubled as of the third quarter of 2026, said Bayraktar. "In other words, we will reach 20 million cubic meters per day. Therefore, we will meet 7.5 billion cubic meters of our gas annually, which is 15% of our consumption," he noted.
To achieve that, Türkiye purchased a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) platform in 2023. The platform is expected to sail through the Bosporus in Istanbul this May and will become operational in 2026, said Bayraktar.
The government is also working on reducing the costs of its costly energy subsidies, according to Bayraktar. He said the state currently pays TL 650 ($17.83) of a TL 1,000 bill, with the total annual support for electricity and natural gas amounting to approximately TL 431 billion.
