Turkey refused to invest in the Russian "gas hub"
The country's priorities have changed after the earthquakes
Turkey does not have the money to build the gas hub proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and if Russia wants to implement the project, it will have to take over the financing, said Chagri Erhan, a member of the Turkish Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Council.
Source. This was reported by moscowtimes.eu with reference to RIA Novosti.
"Negotiations on the hub were suspended because a lot has changed in Turkey after the earthquakes. All priorities have changed. <...> Now we have no money to build it. If Russia has the money, please start building the hub. It all depends on investment," Erhan said.
In addition, the Turkish Ministry of Energy reported that the Istanbul meeting scheduled for March 22 to discuss the gas hub will not take place – this time it has been postponed indefinitely.
In October last year, Putin said that the lost volume of gas transit to Europe through Nord Stream could be redirected to the Black Sea region and that Turkey could become "the largest gas hub for Europe." The initiative was approved by President Tayyip Erdogan.
On January 3, the Turkish Ministry of Energy announced that it had started implementing the proposal. The head of the ministry, Fatih Domnez, estimated the timeframe for preparation for construction at 12 months. The project was developed by Russian Gazprom and Turkish Botas. In turn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak claimed that other gas exporters, such as Algeria, Qatar and Azerbaijan, could also take part in the project.
Negotiations on the construction stopped in February after the earthquakes in southeastern Turkey, which killed about 46,000 people. The World Bank estimated direct physical damage from the disaster at $34.2 billion. At the same time, the total cost of reconstruction could be twice as high.
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia views Turkey's decision to end negotiations on the hub "with understanding," and the timing of the start of construction may be shifted, but this will not affect the implementation of the plans.
Erdogan proposed to locate the hub in the Thrace region in the European part of the country. From there, the gas could be sent via the southern branch to Italy, the middle branch to Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, and the northern branch to Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, and then to Germany.
Meanwhile, Italy has already stated that it has no plans to connect to the new hub and that the volumes coming through Ukraine are enough for it.
Background. As reported, Erdogan has agreed with Putin to create a gas hub in Turkey.
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