Moscow-Ankara Meetings Herald Energy Talks

Turkey's deputy prime minister Mehmet Simsek and two ministerial colleagues held talks with counterparts in Moscow July 26, as part of moves to repair broken economic relations between the countries. Russia's Interfax agency reported that Turkish Stream would go ahead as both sides agreed.

As the next step, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will visit St Petersburg August 9 to meet the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The visit will be the first such meeting as the two countries try to normalise relations.

It will also be Erdogan's first trip abroad since the failed military coup attempt of July 15. Putin called Erdogan on July 17, a day after security forces quashed a coup attempt staged by a group of high-ranking officers within the army.  

According to newswire reports, Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that the two countries had good opportunities to expand trade and investment cooperation. Dvorkovich said he believed, given the goodwill of the parties, implementation of the Turkish Stream project could progress. “Ankara confirmed it is open for resuming the dialogue on the project. Russia’s energy minister, Alexander Novak, is going to hold consultations with his colleagues on the topic,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Image credit: Anatolian Agency) 

According to Dvorkovich, “if the parties are willing, we can move quickly,” despite the fact that the project was at an earlier stage than other Russian export pipeline projects, as reported by TASS.

The 32bn m³/yr pipeline from southern Russia to southern Europe was announced in December 2014, in place of the defunct South Stream. Both have been seen as plans to scupper the EU-backed Southern Gas Corridor, which will bring Azeri gas into Turkey and then on to Greece.

The project has been on hold since last year's fallout between Ankara and Moscow in the wake of the shooting down by Turkish jets of a Russian warplane that strayed into Turkish airspace.

Gazprom is Russia's largest state-owned energy company, producing 418.5bn m³ of natural gas in 2015. It is also the largest publicly listed oil and gas company in the world by hydrocarbon reserves and production. 

Murat Basboga