Turkey mulls energy swap plan with Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Turkish government plans to build a power station near the northern Iraqi border and may sell electricity to Iraq in exchange for natural gas, Turkey’s energy and natural resources minister said April 13.

“With the power station we build near the northern border of Iraq, we will supply them with electricity, and in exchange they will give us natural gas,” Minister Taner Yıldız said at a press conference in Ankara, adding that they were working on important steps to import natural gas from Iraq and this would be a very transparent process.

He said the natural gas would be imported from Iraq by the company that won the tender. As well as attempting to diversify Turkey’s petroleum imports, the government is also looking to find alternate sources of natural gas imports, Yıldız said.

Yıldız also reminded journalists that Turkey had signed a special deal with Russian Gazprom and that no matter how much of a price hike Gazprom implemented on natural gas to Europe, Turkey would not be affected for the duration of the agreement, Hurriyet Daily News reported.