Türkiye intends to become global gas pricing centre — Erdogan

Türkiye intends to become a global gas pricing centrein the near future, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced on December 16.

He was speaking at a ceremony for the commissioning of new capacities of the Silivri underground gas storage near Istanbul, which he called the largest in Europe, TASS reports.

"We held talks with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin [on the creation of a gas hub on Turkish territory]. Thrace (the European part of Türkiye - TASS) will become an energy center. Our goal is to turn Türkiye into a global gas pricing centreas soon as possible," Erdogan said. He did not elaborate.

Speaking at the Russian Energy Week forum in October, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed creating the largest gas hub in Europe in Türkiye and redirecting the volume of gas, the transit of which is no longer possible through the Nord Stream, to this hub. According to him, it may imply building another gas pipeline system and creating a hub in Türkiye, through which gas will be supplied to third countries, primarily European ones, if they are interested.

The creation of a gas hub in Türkiye was discussed on October 13 in Astana at talks between the Russian and Turkish presidents. According to Erdogan, the hub should be established as soon as possible and the most suitable place for it is the Thrace region in the European part of Türkiye.