Türkiye plans to resume natural gas imports from Turkmenistan in 2026 and increase its purchase levels, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in an interview with the TRT Haber television channel.
“The year 2026 will be important in terms of starting Turkmen gas supplies and increasing their levels,” he said.
This was the year of liquefied natural gas for Türkiye, he said, as long-term contracts for LNG supplies to the country were signed, in particular from the United States.
“These are long-term contracts covering the period from 2027 to the 2030s and 2040s. In a similar manner, the conclusion of LNG contracts will continue in 2026 as well. Thus, when we find suitable resources, cheap LNG, we conclude relevant agreements. We plan to revisit our agreement with Algeria and extend it. At the same time, we will evaluate alternative sources,” Bayraktar said.
Azerbaijan is a very important natural gas supplier for Türkiye, he said.
The country’s demand for natural gas is growing, and the Turkish government is taking many measures to meet this need, he said.
“First and foremost, we are focused on exploration and finding our own gas, as well as increasing our own production, as for example at the Sakarya field. Our own gas production will increase significantly this year. Besides this, we are also trying to import gas from abroad from the most suitable sources, in the cheapest way and in a manner that ensures the most reliable supply. Therefore, Azerbaijan is an important country from which we have been supplying gas for many years,” he said.
Baku and Ankara have jointly implemented many strategic investments, he said. Türkiye, thanks to the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), receives significant amounts of gas from Azerbaijan.
“I would like to remind you that at the beginning of January we signed an agreement for the supply of 2.25 billion cubic meters from Azerbaijan, starting from 2029,” Bayraktar said.
Since March, Turkmenistan has opened a new export direction – around 120 million cubic meters of gas per month are being sent to Türkiye via swap through Iran. The country supplies gas at spot prices.
In October 2025, the chairman of the state company Turkmengaz, Maksat Babayev, said that supplies of Turkmen gas to Türkiye were currently suspended. “We have a short-term contract. If we cannot agree on volumes or price, we have other buyers as well. That’s the market,” Babayev said. The contract is designed for 2 bcm annually, he said.
As reported, on January 2, 2026, Azerbaijan and Türkiye concluded a 15-year agreement for the supply of 33 bcm of natural gas from the Absheron field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. The annual supply level will be 2.25 bcm. The implementation of this agreement will begin in 2029 and continue until the 2040s. The gas will be supplied via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline. ///originally published by Interfax, 16 January 2026