Russia To Pursue Gas Deals With Turkey At G20

Russia is set to announce its plans for gas deals with Turkey at the G20 meeting in Indonesia next week, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry referenced “specific initiatives” that were planned, including “increasing gas cooperation with Turkey” in the form of a gas hub in Turkey, as well as organizing large grain and fertilizer shipments. The gas would then be sold in the European market.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin—who will not be in attendance at the G20 meeting—suggested that Russia could redirect natural gas supplies that were originally destined to be transferred through the Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea, as well as creating a gas hub in Turkey.

"We could move the lost volumes from the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey. That is, of course, if our partners are interested in this. And economic feasibility, of course,” President Putin said last month. At that time, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said that it was too early to make an assessment over the initial proposal. “These kinds of international projects need feasibility assessments... commercial aspects need to be discussed. These are things that need to be discussed,” Donmez said.

Europe has struggled to come up with a concrete plan for weaning itself off Russian gas supplies and restricting Russia’s revenues from its energy products, although it has managed to mostly fill its storage ahead of winter. Without Russian gas, however, next year, filling Europe’s gas storage won’t come as easily.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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