Turkey surprised by Putin's suggestion to create major gas hub in Black Sea region

Russia could create "the largest gas hub" in Turkey for supplies to Europe, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Energy Week international forum.

"The Turkish Stream currently transits 14 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. This is not that much, but still this is a decent amount. <…> We could move the lost volume of transit through the Nord Streams, along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supplies of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, thereby creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey. Unless, of course, our partners are interested in this,” Putin said.

Such a step would be economically feasible, and the safety of such a route, "judging by recent events is much higher," he added.

In addition to the Turkish Stream, Moscow also supplies fuel to Turkey via the Blue Stream. The two gas pipelines run along the bottom of the Black Sea. The Blue Stream (the system supplied 15.98 billion cubic meters of gas in 2021) is intended to supply gas only to the Turkish market. The first of the two strings of the Turkish Stream (15.75 billion out of 31.5 cubic meters) is used to ensure supplies to Turkish consumers, whereas the second one is used to supply the countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe.

Gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream have been suspended since the end of August. Gazprom first referred to the maintenance of a gas pumping unit, and then to a turbine malfunction. Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 systems were exploded in late September. Gazprom said that the damage caused was "unprecedented" and refused to estimate the timing for the restoration of the pipes.

A large-scale energy crisis stated developing in Europe against the backdrop of decreasing fuel supplies from Russia. EU authorities urged citizens to save energy and get ready for a tough winter season. At the same time, the EU continues discussing further sanctions against Russian energy resources, and capping gas prices is no exception.

Turkey wants to discuss Putin's proposal ASAP

The proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin about the creation of a gas hub is new and needs to be discussed, representatives for the Ministry of Energy of Turkey said, RIA Novosti reports.

Russia has four main gas supply routes to Europe. In addition to the Turkish Stream, these are the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline that runs through Poland (the pipeline has been shut down), the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS), whose capabilities are limited against the backdrop of the conflict, and the Nord Stream gas pipeline, where explosions occurred on September 26.

The idea of ​​Russian President Vladimir Putin to move the transit of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to the Black Sea will be discussed during his upcoming meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Astana, TRT Haber said.