Russia and Turkey are very strong energy connection, but it all depends on political debate, said the Executive Director of the International energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol.
ANTALYA, 15 Nov. Alain Le Creative Cluster. The positions of Turkey and Russia on political issues may affect bilateral projects in the energy sector both positively and negatively, said the Executive Director of the International energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol in Antalya on Sunday.
“Russia and Turkey are very strong energy ties. However, the strengthening or, on the contrary, the weakening of these ties depends on political discussions”, — said the Agency interlocutor.
He agreed that between the countries there is divergence on the Syrian issue, but it is too early to talk about whether the parties to reduce the conflict to acceptable solutions so that this does not impact on joint energy projects.
On the issue of the treatment of Turkey in arbitration on the issue of discounts for Russian gas, Birol said that the inquiry into the energy arbitration is a common practice: if between countries and companies, there’s miscommunication and they can’t agree, they sue you.
“Apparently, the ability to negotiate Turkey with Russia on the issue of discounting is no more,” added Birol.
In October, the energy Ministry of Turkey announced that filed a lawsuit in the Stockholm arbitration with the requirement about reduction of Russian gas price. Turkish gas company Botas informed Gazprom about filing the appropriate claim. We are talking about retroactive revision of the contract with Botas and “Gazprom export” from December 2014.
