Turkey as a Major Gas Transit Hub Country

Abstract

The demand for natural gas has been growing much faster than the demand for other primary energy sources and it is expected that the European Union's dependency on natural gas will continue to grow. For this reason, the gas supply security policy of securing a smooth supply of gas has become more important lately on the European political agenda. According to the European Union external policy directives, European Union natural gas energy security can be enhanced by diversifying geographical origin as well as transit routes. Turkey, in this context, was assumed as one of the most important transit hubs to reach the new sources available in the Azerbaijan and Central Asia region as well as in the Middle East. However, the transportation of gas from this region to Europe through the new route over Turkey has become a very complex issue in terms of a technical and political point of view, because of suppliers' export policy and the United States's bilateral sanctions. This article argues that under the present circumstances, especially due to the difficulties related to the suppliers, being a major transit gas hub will be very difficult for Turkey combined together with the increasing internal gas demand in the next decade.

Keywords:

• energy policy
• European Union
• gas supply security
• natural gas
• transit hub

Notes

^aContracted volume.

^bPotential export.

^cPossible export.