BAKU: In an interview, A-Haber Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Ali Riza Alaboyun put a period to a racket around Azerbaijan-Turkey alleged financial claims about the gas delivery price.
“Turkey did not sustain losses by importing Azeri gas. We can clearly say that Azeri gas is the cheapest gas that Turkey imports. The claims in that regard are totally wrong and baseless,” the minister stated.
Turkey has been buying Azerbaijani gas since 2001.
Alaboyun also reminded that Azerbaijan and Turkey agreed on TANAP construction for new gas supplies.
“The two countries have also signed other agreements that envision natural gas cooperation. With those agreements, BOTAS’ share in TANAP rose from 20% to 30%, while Turkish Petroleum’s (TPAO) share in Shah Deniz field and South Caucasus Pipeline increased from 9% to 19%. That way, Turkey’s state companies gained to have a say in the production-transportation-marketing chain in natural gas sector,” the minister added.
The energy ministry also dismissed newspapers’ claims against the reasons for cancelling the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline project.
“Nabucco pipeline was designed to carry Azeri and Turkmen gas to Europe via Turkey. In addition, Iranian and Iraqi gas were also considered to be added to the pipeline. Nabucco project was not found commercially feasible by the Shah Deniz consortium, while Turkey and Azerbaijan agreed to build TANAP instead,” the minister said.
