Taner Yildiz said on Monday that Turkey will not decrease its imports of gas from Iran and that Tehran-Ankara energy ties will remain intact.
The Turkish minister made the remarks at a press conference after a meeting with a delegation from the US House of Representatives and the Senate in Ankara. An American representative had reportedly said in the meeting that the US could supply Ankara with its required gas.
The Turkish energy minister stressed after the meeting that there is no substitute for the Iranian gas.
Yildiz also stated that Turkey would invest USD 130 billion in its energy field by 2023.
Iran, which owns the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia, is Turkey’s second biggest gas supplier after Russia. Turkey uses a significant portion of its imported Iranian natural gas to generate electricity.
On April 28, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said Iran’s natural gas exports to Turkey would increase following the completion of a joint pipeline.
Qasemi said that the pipeline, which comes from Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz, had been partially installed and was planned to be completed with the participation of Turkish private companies in order to boost Iran’s gas exports to Turkey.
The Iranian minister said that in 2012, Iran-Turkey energy transactions stood at over USD 12 billion out of the total bilateral trade of USD 22 billion.
