Russia remains Turkey's largest gas, crude, oil product supplier - govt
MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar discussed prospects for cooperation in the gas and oil sectors, as well as the peaceful use of nuclear energy at a meeting in Istanbul on Friday, the Russian government's press service reported.
Novak stressed Turkey's important role as a transit country for oil and gas, and its ambition to become a strategic regional energy trading hub, with a growing domestic market and active energy-related foreign policy, the press release said.
"Russia continues to be the largest supplier of natural gas, oil, and petroleum products to Turkey and reliably fulfills its obligations to its Turkish partners. Cooperation continues regarding the supply of Russian electricity to Turkey. This is expected to strengthen the reliability of Turkey's energy supply and further contribute to the stability of its energy balance," the press release said.
"The TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines are operating unfailingly, and the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu NPP, is underway, which means that a new nuclear energy industry is emerging in Turkey," Novak said.
Bayraktar said on social media that, in addition to discussing current cooperation in the areas of natural gas and nuclear energy, he and Novak considered "new opportunities for engagement."
"We attach great importance to continuing our energy dialog, devoting particular attention to the successful development of current projects and emergence of new areas of cooperation that will bring mutual benefits," Bayraktar said.
Long-term contracts with Turkish state company Botas for the delivery of 16 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the Blue Stream pipeline and 5.75 bcm through the TurkStream pipeline expired in 2025, and current agreements with some private importers were set to expire at the end of 2025-beginning of 2026.
Bayraktar said in early December that Turkey had extended contracts for Russian gas supplies that were expiring at the end of 2025 for one year. Botas negotiated the contract. Supplies from Russian gas giant Gazprom will continue in 2026, "but we are focusing on short term, like one year," the minister was reported as saying by Reuters.
