Türkiye has extended its expiring Russian gas import contracts by a year as it plans U.S. infrastructure investment as part of efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy, the Turkish energy minister said, APA reports, citing Reuters.
Türkiye is Russia's last major natural gas market in Europe after years of war-related Western sanctions on Moscow. It imports a total of 22 billion cubic metres of gas under the Gazprom (GAZP.MM), contracts that expire at the end of the year, amounting to less than 40% of Türkiye's overall gas mix, down from more than 50% in 2018.
The Russian gas is supplied via the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines under multi-year contracts starting from February 2003 and January 2020 respectively.
Turkish state gas importer BOTAS has separately signed a series of long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG), much of which is from the United States, taking advantage of large global LNG supply over the next few years.
BOTAS will continue to be supplied by Gazprom next year, but with a more short-term focus of one year, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in embargoed comments to reporters in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Gazprom did not reply immediately to a request for comment.
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