Russia, Turkey seek common ground on gas discount
By Nigar Abbasova
Russia and Turkey are taking huge steps to normalize their bilateral relations and the sides have already resumed negotiations on gas discounts. The issue, however, still remains one of the most actual challenges for the two countries.
Russia’s Gazprom and Turkey’s energy giant BOTAŞ were tasked with working out the amount of potential amount.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Russia 24 that the discount will mainly depend on the volume of consumption, mentioning that a special mechanism should be developed in this regard. He emphasized that the sides are ready to move forward in a bid to reach a common position.
Gazprom sells gas not only to BOTAŞ, but also to Turkish private providers.
Turkey and Russia earlier signed an intergovernmental agreement on Turkish Stream project. Russian President Vladimir Putin, following the meeting with his Turkish counterpart, said the sides had also agreed on gas discount.
Gazprom and Botas will have legal proceedings in the Geneva Court of Arbitration, should the sides further face controversies and be unable to reach consent.
Turkey, which is considered to be the second biggest consumer of Russian gas after Germany, imports gas from Russia via two pipelines - the Blue Stream, which passes under the eastern Black Sea, and the Western Line through the Balkans
The current annual level of Gazprom supplies for Turkey by means of the trans-Baltic gas pipeline stands at 2 bcm for Botas, while some 10 bcm accounts for separate importers.
Turkey imported some 10.14 bcm of gas in January-May 2016, as compared to the volume of 11.22 bcm in the same period of 2015. Some 50.84 percent of the total volume of gas imports by Turkey accounted for Russia in the reported period.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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