Erdogan and Putin at a meeting in October
Turkey’s gas hub pipe dream
Erdogan and Putin’s rhetoric may be more about targeting domestic audiences than any realistic prospect of development
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s October proposal to turn Turkey into a regional hub for Russian gas met with rapid agreement by his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan. But even a gas-stressed Europe paid it barely a flicker of attention—in part because it seems now irrevocably committed to ending dependence on Russian pipeline gas by any route, and in part because the idea is fanciful in the current political climate. Turkey is already a gas hub of sorts, with inbound pipelines linking it to Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan, plus three LNG regasification facilities and outbound connections to Greece and Bulgaria. But the country’s aspirations for greater regional energy clout face significant c
Also in this section
5 June 2025
The new government is talking and thinking big, and there are credible reasons to believe it is more than just grandstanding
5 June 2025
Russia has ample spare gas, and Iran needs it, but sanctions and pricing pose steep hurdles.
5 June 2025
EU half measures over storage regulation, geopolitical risks to ending Russian gas, power outage questions and China’s LNG resale leverage make for a challenging path ahead.
3 June 2025
China will play a huge role in driving gas demand, with its Qatar partnership crucial to this growth amid global structural challenges
