ANKARA (Eurasianet)–Sparking hopes that a Turkish-Azerbaijan gas deal is in sight, Ankara has agreed to pay between $500 million to $1 billion to Baku to narrow the difference between the market price for Azerbaijani natural gas and the discounted price that Turkey has been paying so far, the Day.az news agency reported on October 28.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the final amount of the supplementary payment will depend on the new fee for Azerbaijani gas, the Rosbalt news agency stated. Turkey now pays $120 per 1,000 cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas and sells it to domestic consumers for triple the price.
On transit fees, another sore topic, Turkey said that it had proposed a fee of $2.36 per 100 kilometers, a fee that is just 24 cents less than that charged by Russia, the Trend news agency reported.
Baku and Ankara will hold fresh energy talks in early November. Reaching a bilateral pricing agreement is widely considered a prerequisite for building the Nabucco pipeline, which is meant to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.
