T眉rkiye and Turkmenistan aim to have an annual gas trade volume of 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the next 20 years, amounting to 300 bcm, the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said Wednesday.
To reach that volume, the two nations "need a pipeline," but utilizing existing infrastructure, Ankara and Ashgabat aim to start with an initial volume of 2 bcm through a swap method, the ministry said in a statement that quoted Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.
The statement came after Bayraktar鈥檚 two-day visit to Turkmenistan where he met top energy officials.
Ankara is working to transport Turkmenistan鈥檚 gas to T眉rkiye and then onward to Europe, said Bayraktar.
He said there are several alternatives to realize the project.
鈥淭he ultimate and the most important one is to have a pipeline through the Caspian Sea with a much larger amount of natural gas and a long-term agreement to transport this natural gas to the western markets, to T眉rkiye and to Europe,鈥� he said.
Bayraktar, pointing to other cooperation areas on natural gas, noted Turkmenistan's investment plan on natural gas storage.
"BOTAS (Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) has a very important competence and infrastructure in this regard," he said. "We have approximately 6 bcm of natural gas storage capacity in T眉rkiye. We want to increase this to 12 bcm by 2028.鈥�
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month that it is only a matter of time before Turkmenistan's gas is transferred to T眉rkiye and Europe through the expanded Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP).
Bayraktar and Azerbaijan's economy minister signed a comprehensive deal earlier this year on capacity expansion for several natural gas pipelines. Bayraktar had said that the deal would allow for additional gas volumes from Azerbaijan as well as natural gas from the Caspian region to T眉rkiye and Europe by 2030, although the exact volumes are yet to be announced.
An agreement was also reached to transport Turkmenistan natural gas to T眉rkiye via Azerbaijan and Georgia, Bayraktar added.
By Handan Kazanci
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr