Turkey could become biggest Russian gas importer before long – Miller

(Interfax, MOSCOW, June 28, 2013) Turkey could become the biggest importer of Russian gas before very long, overtaking Germany, Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) CEO Alexei Miller told reporters.

“Turkey wants to buy more of our gas as its needs grow and possibly due to a shortfall from other suppliers. The growth could be 20% in the near future on top of what we have now. Turkey could in the near future become our biggest importer, overtaking Germany,” Miller said.

“The Turkish market is growing the most dynamically for our supplies. Turkey recently moved into second place by volumes of imported gas, and today it is hot on the heels of Germany. We might literally in the very near future be looking at maximum annual contractual obligations to supply gas to Turkey – 30 bcm per year,” Miller said.

Turkey currently receives Russian gas via the Blue Stream pipeline and the western route via the Balkans. Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said that Turkey was asking to raise supplies by 3 bcm.