ISTANBUL, May 3. /TASS/. The Turkish parliament has passed a bill, allowing to sell imported natural gas in the liquefied form (LNG), the Sozcu TV channel reported.

The bill was submitted to parliament in January. Its adoption paves the way to creating LNG plants and solidifies the legislative basis aimed at turning Turkey into an international gas trade hub.

In October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed establishing such a hub in Turkey to where the lost gas transit flows through the Nord Stream pipeline could be redirected. Turkey has said that almost everything is ready to start the project in terms of infrastructure, but that legislative amendments are needed. The republic’s parliament made the first decisions on the operations of Turkish oil and gas producer Botas and a number of other suppliers in early April 2023.

On September 4 2023, after talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, Putin said that Gazprom had handed over a draft roadmap for the gas hub project to Botas, adding that the formation of a joint working group was on the agenda. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in late December 2023 that the project of a gas hub in Turkey might start being implemented in 2024, with the roadmap on the project to be passed shortly.

Earlier, a Turkish delegation visited Russia to discuss details.