Natural gas

Cyprus and Israel are in talks over the construction of a pipeline linking their offshore gas fields, Cyprus's energy minister said on Monday.

But George Papanastasiou appeared to play down prospects for an "EastMed" pipeline taking eastern Mediterranean gas to continental Europe, saying a shipping corridor could be set up instead from a hub in Cyprus to transport liquefied gas.

A government decision to offer free natural gas for one month and a discount for a year will help consumers to save 40 billion Turkish Liras (around $2.1 billion) in gas costs, according to Mustafa Yılmaz, head of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).

The European Union opened a scheme this week for companies to jointly buy gas, aiming to secure supplies ahead of winter and avoid a repeat of last year's record-high energy prices.

As Europe begins to recover from the shock of the energy crisis and concerns about gas shortages following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, investors are reassessing the prospect of investing in liquefied natural gas terminals.

President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday flicked the switch on Turkey's first delivery of natural gas to an onshore plant from a reserve discovered in the Black Sea, and promised to provide free natural gas for households before May 14 elections.

The natural gas discovered in the Black Sea will land in Filyos and be linked to the country's gas distribution network on April 20, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, stressing he will announce more good news during the inauguration ceremony.

Türkiye has delivered first cargo of natural gas to Bulgaria as part of a deal the two countries signed in January this year, The Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Company (Botaş) has announced.

Bulgarian Energy Minister Rossen Hristov attended ceremony at the Marmara Ereglisi LNG Terminal in Türkiye's northwestern Tekirdağ province, marking the shipment of gas.

Cyprus' Energy Minister George Papanastasiou stated on Thursday that, during his discussions with consortiums operating in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone (EEZ), he suggested the option of importing natural gas quantities from the EEZ for power generation, in combination with LNG exports via a small LNG plant.

"At the end of the month in Sofia (April 25-26), a large-scale agreement is expected to be signed between several countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, on the expansion of the gas infrastructure.

Natural gas Türkiye discovered in the Black Sea is worth more than $500 billion and is large enough to supply all homes in the country with gas for 35 years, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez has said.