ANKARA, April 24. /TASS/. It is profitable for Turkey to transport gas to Europe from other regions, head of the energy department of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association of Turkey (MUSIAD) Altug Karatas said in an interview with the Milliyet newspaper, adding that there are no restrictions on transit of Russian gas.
"Both Russia, Turkey and many other countries have started arguing in favor of Turkey becoming a gas hub. It is profitable for us if natural gas from other regions flows via us to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria within existing agreements. There are no restrictions on pumping of gas from Russia to Europe via Turkey," he said.
"Agreements on liquefied natural gas were reached" earlier with other counties, Karatas added. The issue is about arrival of LNG tankers to Turkey for regasification of fuel and its supply to other countries. Such gas is received by Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, he said, adding that due to LNG agreements Turkey has started supplying not only Russian gas, but fuel from other states to other countries.
Algeria, Qatar and the US are among those countries. However, LNG transit does not make Turkey a net exporter from the viewpoint of using national resources, Karatas noted. "In 2027, Turkey will produce 30% of gas it consumes on its territory. If a gas trade hub is opened, much more gas will flow to Turkey [from other countries] and will be supplied to other states. Turkey wants the gas price to be defined on its territory. For doing this a gas exchange will be opened in the financial center of Istanbul, whereas gas itself will be physically delivered via the gas hub in Thrace," he said.
Karatas added that Turkey reached agreements in the oil and gas sector with Libya and Somalia earlier, and there are agreements with Iraq. Apart from mineral exploration, transportation, provision of technical and operational services, the republic will also receive a share from energy resources produced in those countries, particularly in Libya and Somalia.