Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, announced that they are working on extending the natural gas agreement with Turkmenistan for a period of five years.

Alparslan Bayraktar, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, stated that they are in talks with Turkmenistan to establish a five-year natural gas purchase agreement. Turkey recently signed a deal with Turkmenistan this month for the purchase of 1.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas via a barter arrangement through Iran. Gas flow from Turkmenistan will commence on March 1. Referencing the agreement in an interview published in Hürriyet newspaper, Bayraktar said, “We want to do this in the long term. Our goal is a long-term swap agreement. We are currently working on a program that will probably extend a five-year swap agreement this year.” Bayraktar also mentioned that they will sign a license agreement on March 1 to explore for oil and natural gas in onshore fields in Somalia.

Turkey is already conducting exploration for oil and natural gas in offshore waters in Somalia.