Turkey promises to ensure access of Turkmen energy resources to the world market

Turkey seeks to expand cooperation with Turkmenistan in the energy sector, including the development of oil and gas fields and the import of electricity. This issue was discussed during the visit of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey Alparslan Bayraktar to Ashgabat. President Serdar Berdimuhamedov confirmed Turkmenistan’s readiness to deepen energy partnership with Turkey. At the same time, Ashgabat’s main goal is to bring Turkmen gas to the world market. To resolve this issue, Turkmenistan intends to join the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).

Turkish Minister Alparslan Bayraktar recently visited Ashgabat to participate in the International Conference “International Year of Peace and Trust: the Role of Interregional Economic Cooperation in ensuring Sustainable Development.” Negotiations were also held with the Head of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, and industry ministers.

Bayraktar noted at a meeting with Serdar Berdimuhamedov that Turkey highly appreciates cooperation with Turkmenistan on a wide range of issues and sees great potential for developing ties in the fuel and energy, transport and communication, agricultural and investment spheres. Turkey is one of Turkmenistan’s key trade and economic partners, the state information agency TDH reported.

The Turkish minister announced Turkey’s intention to establish a partnership with Turkmenistan in the field of oil and gas field development: “There are great opportunities in the exploration and production sector that will make this connection more significant. Therefore, we want to cooperate with Turkmenistan in the development of oil and gas fields in Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea.”

Bayraktar recalled that Turkey started importing Turkmen gas on March 1. “Thus, for the first time we receive gas through a pipeline from a country that is not our neighbor. This step is of great importance not only for the diversification of our supplies, but also for the access of Turkmen gas to Western markets and to Europe,” Bayraktar said. It is planned to export 1.3 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas by the end of 2025, which provides for the use of a swap system, when gas from one supplier is replaced by fuel from another. In this case, we are talking about the supply of Turkmen gas via the Korpeje–Gurtguyi and Dovletabad-Serakhs–Khangiran gas pipelines to Iran, which will pump its gas into the Turkish pipeline system in the same volumes. Bayraktar said that the agreement with Turkmenistan will be extended for the next five years.

As Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilma said during the eighth meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation (IGC) between Turkey and Turkmenistan, “this is just the beginning,” and expressed his desire to ensure access of Turkmen gas and electricity to the world market.

However, the supplied volumes of Turkmen gas to Turkey provide only domestic Turkish needs. At the same time, Ashgabat’s goal of supplying Turkmen gas to Europe remains unattainable. It is necessary to build a new pipe, for example, the Trans-Caspian pipeline. Back in 2015, Turkmenistan laid 700 km of a gas pipeline from the Galkynysh field to the coast of the Caspian Sea. At that time, Ashgabat stated that it was ready to supply up to 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe. According to the EU Special Representative for Central Asia (CA) Terry Hakala, who visited Ashgabat as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the EU in May 2024, the project of this gas pipeline is a key factor designed to strengthen ties between Europe and the Central Asian region. For many years, the implementation of the 300 km Trans–Caspian gas pipeline project has been hampered by the unresolved status of the Caspian Sea, the high cost of the project, the lack of interest in it from other Caspian littoral states, primarily Russia and Iran, as well as environmental safety concerns. The conclusion of the Convention on the Caspian Sea in 2018 paved the way for the possible implementation of the project. Currently, given the problems associated with the transportation of Russian gas to Europe and the EU’s desire to find a replacement for it, the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project is getting a chance to be implemented.

However, neither Turkey nor Turkmenistan have the necessary resources to lay the pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. There are no other foreign investors for a number of reasons. First of all, the capacity of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which supplies gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea and further through Turkey to Europe, is limited. According to the draft, the trans-Caspian pipeline should join TANAP. TANAP’s capacity is only 16 billion cubic meters of gas, 5.7 billion cubic meters of which is supplied to Turkey, and the rest to Europe. The supply of Turkmen gas through this pipeline will be limited to 2-3 billion cubic meters of gas per year. This obviously does not solve the problem of exporting Turkmen gas.

The Trans–Caspian issue was discussed during the EU-Central Asia Investment Forum held in January 2024. It was also raised during the visit of Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to Brussels in March 2024, after which the EU began considering allocating $10 billion for the implementation of the Trans-Caspian project. It was noted that European banks could become investors. It was also planned to create a consortium for the construction of the Trans-Caspian. Perhaps this issue will be raised again at the upcoming EU–Central Asia summit in Samarkand.

In the meantime, the Turkmen authorities are offering foreign companies work on the difficult sea coast, while maintaining control over the main gas reserves. To resolve the issue of gas exports, Ashgabat intends to join the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries (GECF). This possibility was discussed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov with the Secretary General of the GECF Mohamed Hamel.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current situation on the global energy markets and cooperation between organizations and relevant structures. It was emphasized that there is a huge potential for the development of effective partnership in the gas sector, according to the website of the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan.

The GECF is an international intergovernmental organization whose members are Algeria, Bolivia, Venezuela, Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Libya, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Equatorial Guinea. Seven other countries have observer status: Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru.

The main objectives of the organization are to ensure the sovereign rights of member countries to their own natural gas reserves and the ability to independently plan and ensure environmentally sustainable and efficient development and use of gas in the interests of their peoples, exchange experience and information on the development of the gas industry.