ANKARA, May 21. /TASS/. A gas hub for pumping natural gas to Europe via Turkey’s territory will be commissioned with a year at most, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Sunday.

"The gas trade center will begin to operate in a year at most. Thanks to it, it will be possible to sell more gas to Europe and diversify energy sources in Turkey," he said in an interview with the Haber Global television channel. "The gas hub is especially important for Southern Europe. They [these countries] are not asking whether the hub will be built or not, they want to know when it begins to operate."

Donmez said earlier that Turkey would be able to supply some 40 billion cubic meters of gas, the surplus of its 100 billion cubic meter gas exports, to Europe via its gas trade center. Turkey is negotiating the project with 15 countries, including Azerbaijan, Iran, and Persian countries.

The idea of establishing a hub in Turkey to redirect the volume of gas, the transit of which is no longer possible through the Nord Stream, was advanced by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Russian Energy Week in October 2022. It may imply building another gas pipeline system and creating a hub in Turkey, through which gas will be supplied to third countries, primarily European ones, if they are interested, he said. Turkey took the initiative positively and said that a larger part of infrastructure for a would-be hub and a gas trade center in Istanbul is ready. The Turkish side has also initiated legislative amendments to back the gas hub projects by a legislative framework.