Negotiations on natural gas trade between Turkey and Turkmenistan, which began in 1998, have come to a conclusion after 27 years. An agreement was reached between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz on the supply of Turkmen gas to Turkey. The agreement plans to start deliveries on March 1, 2025.
Foundations Laid in Antalya
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting with the President of the People's Council of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who came to Turkey to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on March 1, 2024. During the meeting, agreements were signed to increase cooperation in natural gas and oil between the two countries, and a declaration of intent was made regarding the transportation of Turkmenistan's rich natural gas resources to Turkey and the West through Turkey.
Minister Bayraktar's Visit
In July, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar went to Turkmenistan and held talks, underlining that there was serious will at the level of heads of state on this issue, said, “Hopefully we will make this a reality and, frankly, we will put these talks and agreements that have been going on since 1998 into practice in a sense.”
Agreement Reached
Following these developments, intensive work was spent to establish the necessary technical and legal infrastructure for the start of gas flow from Turkmenistan to Turkey. As a result, an important agreement was reached between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz, which will start a new era in cooperation in the field of energy.
Starts on March 1st
Under the agreement, natural gas flow is planned to begin on March 1, 2025.
A Historical Step
Minister Bayraktar announced the agreement reached on his social media account. Bayraktar said in his post, “We have taken a historic step in Turkey-Turkmenistan energy cooperation. We have signed an agreement between BOTAŞ and Türkmengaz that will allow Turkmen gas to come to our country.”
Strategic Collaboration
Bayraktar continued as follows: Today, we have reached the concrete output of the memorandum of understanding for the development of our cooperation in the field of natural gas, which we signed in Antalya in March last year in the presence of our President @RTErdoğan and the Chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. Within the scope of the agreement, the gas flow is planned to start as of March 1, 2025. With this agreement, which we have been working on for many years, we will strengthen the natural gas supply security of our country and region and carry the strategic cooperation between the two countries further.
