Turkey to continue buying Russian natural gas despite US calls

Turkey will continue purchasing natural gas from Russia despite U.S. calls to stop buying Russian energy resources, Turkey’s Minister of Energy Alparslan Bayraktar said.

“We have contracts with Russia, and winter is approaching. We cannot tell people that there is no gas,” Bayraktar stated.

He added that Turkey needs to receive gas from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan, depending on the country’s energy requirements.

On Sept. 25, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Washington to halt purchases of Russian energy resources.

Bayraktar also noted that negotiations are under way with Russia to extend the gas supply contract to Turkey via the Blue Stream pipeline.

According to Hurriyet’s January 2025 report, Russia remained Turkey’s leading supplier of natural gas, oil, and petroleum products in 2024, as it did in 2023.

Russia supplies gas to Turkey through two pipelines: Blue Stream, which began operations in early 2003 with an annual capacity of 16 billion cubic meters, and TurkStream, consisting of two lines—one supplying Turkey, the other supplying countries in Southern and Southeastern Europe—with a combined annual capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters, which started operations in January 2020.