Several private companies in Turkey have started negotiations with Gazprom to extend or renegotiate gas purchase contracts due to the imminent expiration of current agreements. According to Habertürk TV channel on Wednesday, the amount of gas to be purchased is 8 billion cubic meters a year.
Gama, AKSA, Demiroren and Kalyon are among those involved in the negotiations. A representative of one of the companies confirmed to the TV channel that "negotiations are held with the management of export structures of Gazprom". "A large number of Turkish companies are extremely interested in gas imports. We need to come to an agreement on the price and the volume of gas to buy, so that the negotiations move forward," he said.
The agreements for 8 billion cubic meters expire at the end of 2021. This is part of a total gas volume of 57-58 billion cubic meters that Turkey imports annually for its own needs. Habertürk notes that the Turkish side is not interested in signing long-term contracts, in which the purchase price of gas would be tied to the oil market conditions, and seeks to conclude more flexible contracts in terms of timing and prices. This position has allegedly been brought to the attention of the Russian side.
The TV channel notes that in March the Turkish-Azerbaijani agreement on the purchase of 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas came to an end, and in this connection, the fuel pumping through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline was stopped. Furthermore, this year, the contract for the purchase of 1.2 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas from Nigeria is coming to an end.
As General Director of Gazprom Export Elena Burmistrova told TASS on April 29, Russian gas deliveries to Turkey in the first quarter of 2021 increased by 106% and amounted to more than 7 billion cubic meters. The volume of gas pumped through the Turkish Stream pipeline in 2020 amounted to 13.51 billion cubic meters.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS