Azerbaijan to boost natural gas exports to Turkey

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

In recent days, amid technical problems with gas imports from Iran to Turkey, the latter requested that the Gas Supply Company of Azerbaijan (AGSC) import additional amounts of gas to eliminate the temporary deficit.

On January 26, the Azerbaijani State Oil Company deputy head of public relations, Ibrahim Ahmadov, made the remark on his official Facebook page.

"The AGSC, on behalf of the Shah Deniz Consortium, has already responded to Turkey's request, and having mobilized the available capacity, gas exports from Azerbaijan to Turkey will be increased in accordance with the arising needs," he wrote.

Ahmadov also expressed his belief that this step will contribute significantly to the strengthening and development of the Azerbaijan-Turkey friendship and brotherhood.

Previously, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov stated that the Shah Deniz field has supplied more than 85 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Turkish gas market since 2007. Furthermore, in the first 11 months of 2021, TANAP transported 5.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey.

Azerbaijan and Turkey cooperate in a variety of economic fields and have completed major energy and infrastructure projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, and TANAP.

Azerbaijan and Turkey signed the Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations on June 15, 2021, which focuses on defence cooperation, regional stability and prosperity, and the establishment of new transportation routes.

The two countries agreed to set a target of $15 billion in mutual trade turnover by 2023. It should be noted that, so far, Turkey is Azerbaijan's second-largest investor followed by the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, Turkey was among the first countries to express an interest in and willingness to participate in the restoration of Azerbaijan's liberated territories.