ANKARA, January 27. /TASS/. Turkey hopes the gas hub in Istanbul may start operations within a year, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said in an interview with the Al Jazeera TV Channel, as Dunya newspaper reported on Friday.

"There is no gas trading hub in South and Southeastern Europe. Countries we are communicating with in these regions support this idea. We hope such gas trading hub will start operations within a year," Donmez said.

"Turkey is the country importing gas from fifteen countries," the Minister noted. "Although infrastructure available with us mainly provides services to domestic consumers, it has capacities to support gas transportation to Europe. A portion of our five LNG terminals is free, especially in summer months. These terminals can be used to supply gas when there is a request from European nations," he said.

"Turkey can inject about 100 bln cubic meters of gas to the national gas distribution system annually," Donmez said. "This is when using pipeline gas and LNG. We in Turkey consume about 55-60 bln cubic meter per year. In other words, we can deliver about 40 bln to Europe if needed," he added.