G-7 Needs Turkish Support, Says IAGS’ Luft

The G-7 countries should support Turkey’s aspirations to become a land bridge for Caspian and East Mediterranean energy, while convincing Ankara to pave the way to LNG tankers through its straits. This is one of the recommendations inked by Gal Luft, Co-Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS).

‘The crisis in Ukraine has awoken a new sense of energy insecurity in Europe, triggering calls for a better coordinated multinational approach to energy security,’ reads the report released on Tuesday.

In this context, the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security suggests Europe to prioritize diversification of gas transit routes and decrease its dependence on Ukraine, while maintaining its unavoidable relation with Russia.

‘It is therefore in the interest of Europe to support – rather than oppose – new corridors for Russian gas such as the South Stream pipeline, which would transport Russian gas through the Black Sea and to Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and beyond,’ Luft said in the report, adding that anti-Moscow rhetoric could backfire on both Europe and the United States as it pushes Russia closer to growing Asian countries.

The report also recommends to ‘strike a better balance between environmental and energy security strategies,’ bet on methanol to store gas in liquid form, monetize flared gas and open vehicles to fuel competition.