Turkey: New Gas Pipeline to Supply Europe

Last week, the Turkish government announced the start of construction of a new gas pipeline that will initially connect Turkey’s territory to Bulgaria and then to many other European countries. According to Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, “the new project is called Turkish Stream-2 and will allow Turkey to export 7 to 8 billion cubic meters of Turkish Blend – a mixture of gas produced by Turkey and imported from other countries – to Europe every year.”

As Turkish state-owned energy monopoly BOTAS and Russian gas giant Gazprom are working intensively to build a gas hub in Turkey, the share of Russian methane in the new blend will be at least 40 percent.

Brussels bureaucrats are working creatively to limit Russian gas exports to EU countries. The latest, 14th package of anti-Moscow sanctions banned the transshipment of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in European ports. Nevertheless, the share of Russian gas exceeds 15% of total EU imports. This figure exceeds US LNG exports to Europe.

In addition, the BOTAS-Gazprom agreements will allow Moscow to easily stop exporting gas through hostile Ukraine after its methane transit agreement with Kiev expires in December 2024. Moreover, Turkey, which the EU sensationally denied membership by personally humiliating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is under no obligation to respect EU rules or adhere to European sanctions against Russia.

According to the International Gas Union (IGU) in its latest report titled “Global Gas Report 2024” (download PDF in English on Pluralia’s website), Russia is ranked among the largest gas exporting countries in the world, with 139 billion cubic meters of gas exported in 2023.