On March 6, 2023, Chagri Erhan, a member of the Security and Foreign Policy Committee directly under the Turkish President, stated that the construction of a natural gas hub in Ankara requires Russian investment. Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Domez announced at the end of January that an international conference on natural gas hub consumers and suppliers will be held from February 14th to 15th. After the earthquake on February 6th, the meeting was postponed to 3 December 22.

Negotiations on the project were suspended following an earthquake in southeastern Turkey. They will resume negotiations in the near future. Erhan pointed out: After the earthquake, Turkey has undergone many changes, and all priorities have been adjusted. Negotiations on the hub have been suspended. In principle, it will definitely be built, but there is no money now. If the Russian Federation has money, then start building, everything depends on investment.

The Turkish gas hub was first discussed in October 2022, two weeks after the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines exploded in the Baltic Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin said lost Russian gas shipments could be diverted to the Black Sea region. He pointed to the possibility of establishing a gas center in Turkey, which could become a platform for the supply of gas to other countries, first of all European countries, as well as to determine the price of gas, which has risen several times to historical records since 2021.

Europe is not enthusiastic about the proposal. Western media reported that building infrastructure to import more Russian gas made no sense, and the European Commission said the bloc was seeking to quickly reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pointed out, the gas hub could be in the Thrace region in the European part of the country. According to Turkish researchers, the gas there can be transported through three branches: the southern branch will be sent to Italy, the middle branch will be sent to Bulgaria, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and other countries, while the northern branch will be sent to Romania, Slovenia, Hungary other countries.

Yevgenia Popova, an analyst at Russia's Vygon Consulting, said that Turkey's natural gas center is likely to become a unique natural gas distribution center, mainly used to transport pipelines to countries in southern and southeastern Europe. It could also be a new platform for creating electronic trading platforms, and the new price index could become a regional benchmark, she added.

However, even with the construction of new offshore infrastructure from Russia to Turkey, Russian supplies will not be available without expanding the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline (through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine) and creating a network within Europe. Too likely to increase substantially. The target market is southern and southeastern European countries, but they are unlikely to increase supply significantly in the short term, she said.Editor/XingWentao