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Türkiye's Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced the country will export approximately 900 megawatts (MWs) of electricity directly to Syria by the first quarter of next year. He added that Türkiye is also pursuing a new pipeline agreement with Iraq and preparing to sign oil and gas exploration deals in Pakistan, according to an interview with Sky News Arabia on Tuesday.
Energy and infrastructure services like water are critical for Syria's return to normalcy, Bayraktar told the UAE-based Sky News Arabia television channel, according to a statement from the Energy Ministry.
"We succeeded in delivering gas from Azerbaijan to Syria on August 2. The Qatar Development Fund also participated in this project. What started as a bilateral project later transformed into a multilateral and important humanitarian project," Bayraktar said.
The minister noted that gas flow from Azerbaijan currently stands at approximately 3.4 million cubic meters daily.
"The pipeline capacity is approximately 6 million cubic meters. We are currently working on how to increase this capacity to 6 million cubic meters. With this capacity, approximately 1,200 megawatts of electricity generation capacity can be reached in Aleppo and Homs. This way, electricity can be provided to approximately 5 million households in Syria," he explained.
Türkiye currently exports 281 megawatts of electricity to Syria through eight different connection points, Bayraktar said.
"We aim to increase this amount to 360 megawatts in the coming weeks. Our ultimate goal is to export an additional 500 megawatts to Syria within the next few months by increasing capacity from Birecik to Aleppo," he added.
"Some work needs to be done on Syrian territory for this connection. By the first quarter of next year, we will be able to export approximately 900 megawatts of electricity directly to Syria," Bayraktar stated.
The minister emphasized that Syria's oil infrastructure needs modernization and investment. "With our participation and contributions from international oil companies, I believe we can achieve this. Thus, we can meet sustainable electricity and basic infrastructure needs for the Syrian people," he said.
Addressing the Türkiye-Iraq Oil Pipeline, Bayraktar noted the pipeline has a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day but has never operated at full capacity in 50 years.
"We recently informed the Iraqi government that the current agreement no longer meets expectations and doesn't respond to today's energy world needs, and we sent a new draft agreement," Bayraktar said.
"They are currently reviewing the structure of the new draft. I hope technical teams will come together soon to begin negotiations for the new agreement," he noted.
The minister emphasized that their goal is to use this pipeline at full capacity.
Türkiye's oil and gas exploration and production strategy focuses on domestic production while evaluating opportunities abroad, according to Bayraktar.
"We produce oil and gas in Azerbaijan. We currently produce very small amounts of oil in Iraq. We have partnerships in three fields in Basra. Additionally, we are looking for opportunities in countries like Libya, Niger, and Somalia. We sent our seismic vessel to Somali waters," he added.
"In Pakistan, we will soon sign agreements for some oil and gas exploration fields we previously won through tender. Thanks to our recent agreement with the Libyan government, we will have the chance to explore new opportunities in Libyan waters," the minister said.
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