The country is buying large amounts of gas from Russia for billions of dollars, but the deals are ending soon.

• Türkiye and Russia have started government-level talks on liquefied gas supplies.
• Turkish state-owned fuel company Botas buys significant quantities of natural gas from Gazprom Export.
• Moscow may be interested in building underground gas storage facilities in Turkey in the long term.

The fuel company Botas and Russia's Gazprom Export are in talks to sign a new contract for the supply of natural gas to Turkey.

The current agreement expires at the end of 2025 and both parties intend to sign an agreement in the fourth quarter to maintain the current status quo.

According to the multi-year agreement, Botas buys raw material from Russia, which is delivered via two gas pipelines running along the bottom of the Black Sea.

Türkiye imports Russian gas, which accounts for almost half of its annual demand

Through Blue Stream, Turkish recipients receive approximately 16 billion m3 of gas annually, while through Turkish Stream 5.75 billion m3. In total, last year, expenditures on purchasing the raw material exceeded USD 34 billion and accounted for approximately 42 percent of the country's supply.

Gazprom also sells smaller volumes of gas under forward contracts signed with local Turkish companies. These also expire at the turn of 2025-26 and will soon be the subject of trade negotiations.

A few days ago, new information appeared about talks between government representatives on the commencement of deliveries of Russian LNG. This is of great importance in the context of EU decisions related to limiting deliveries of liquefied gas from Russia to member states .

Turkey currently plays a strategic role in the supply of Russian gas to Europe . After the suspension of transit through Ukraine since the beginning of January this year, the raw material exported to Hungary, Slovakia, but also to Serbia and North Macedonia is delivered using the local infrastructure.

It is no secret that the Turkish side benefits from the whole situation and, as an intermediary, offers European customers gas from Azerbaijan, Iraq, and even Algeria, while retaining Russian gas from Gazprom for its own needs. This kind of barter is beneficial to both sides.

A new thread is the project of the Russian side getting involved in the construction of gas storage facilities in Turkey . During this winter, drought limited energy production in hydroelectric power plants and the stabilization of the system was based on natural gas.

However, the lack of stocks meant that other sectors of the economy had limited supplies, which reduced production, including exports.

Russia may finance construction of Turkish gas storage facilities

The Turkish side wants to take advantage of the current situation and force Russia to implement solutions similar to Rosatom's financing of the construction of the first Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

At the turn of 2026 and 2027, four nuclear units are scheduled to be put into operation, which will be owned by Russians for the next 60 years. Profits from the sale of electricity will repay a multi-billion loan.

The firm position of Slovakia and Hungary on continuing gas supplies from Russia indicates that the Turkish gas pipeline network will be useful for the countries of Central and Southern Europe for a long time to come.