Hurriyet Daily News: Forging a new ‘EU-Turkey gas initiative’ in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis?

The ongoing game-changers in energy and geopolitics will likely force Ankara and Brussels to consider a joint strategy over how to achieve gas supply security, particularly in view of what’s happening in the Black Sea region, the Western sanctions against Russia and the re-opening of the Pandora’s Box in the Middle East.

With Russia’s annexation of Crimea heightening tensions with Europe, there have been renewed calls to reduce dependence on Russian gas. However, it would be difficult for the EU to quickly achieve this goal. The total consumption of the share of Russian gas used in the 28 EU countries jumped by 4 percentage points to 27 percent last year, making it the EU’s top foreign supplier.

Likewise, Turkey is Russia’s second largest customer (after Germany) for gas exports. 56 percent of its around 47 bcm of gas comes from Russia. Most of Turkey’s gas imports are transported via pipelines, including those from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan. Turkey also imports liquefied gas (LNG), particularly from Algeria and Qatar.
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