ANKARA

Iranian price offers for natural gas are still too high even if Ankara doubles the purchase volume as Iranians suggested, says Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız.

An energy-hungry Turkey imports 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas at a price tag of $507 per cubic meters, however, Turkey complains about the high prices and the lack of security for the energy supply from Iran which sporadically halts gas flow. The Turkish side appealed to international arbitration in January to intervene in the hope of agreeing on an acceptable market price between the two sides.

The diversification of energy supplies are very important for Turkey but the price tag for the supplies cannot be ignored, said Yildiz, speaking at a press conference following a meeting with UK's Minister for Europe, David Lidington. " We are still open to all favorable offers from Iran as long as they offer an advantageous price in the Turkish energy market."

Yildiz and Lidington discussed how to speed up the process for the $45 billion deal with Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP), in which a British Petroleum-led consortium is to bring Azeri gas to Europe through Turkish soil until the end of 2018. 

englishnews@aa.com.tr