Hurriyet Daily News: Turkey as a regional natural gas hub: myth or reality?

Over the last years, Turkey has been increasingly associated in international political and economic debates with concepts such as “energy corridor” and “energy hub.” This characterization of Turkey is mainly due to its unique geographical position at the crossroads of the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.  

Turkey has become a hot topic of world –and notably European– natural gas markets for another reason: the European quest for a new “Silk Road” aimed at diversifying natural gas imports in order to break out of Russian domination. 

In response to the energy security concerns that emerged in Europe after the first Russian-Ukrainian-European natural gas crisis (2006), the EU launched a new policy in 2008. This aimed to further diversify natural gas sources. This latter objective is served by the construction of LNG receiving terminals in Central and South-East Europe and the pursuit of the fourth corridor (generally known as the Southern Gas Corridor), in order to bring natural gas from Caspian and Middle Eastern supplier countries to Europe without crossing Russia.

The implementation of this strategy –and particularly of the Southern Gas Corridor– was accelerated after a second major natural gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine occurred in January 2009.

The ultimate infrastructural shape of the Southern Gas Corridor will likely be represented by the pipeline-tandem TANAP/TAP, an infrastructure that will deliver 10 bcm/year of Shah Deniz Phase II gas to the European market and 6 bcm/year to the Turkish market. MORE