Türkiye to begin providing natural gas to Syria from Saturday

Türkiye will start providing Syria with natural gas as of Saturday to help the war-torn country generate electricity, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced on Wednesday, adding that Azerbaijan would also be involved in the export.

Ankara, which supported opposition forces in Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended in December with the ousting of longtime dictator Bashar Assad, has now become one of the new government’s main foreign allies while positioning itself to be a major player in the country’s reconstruction.

During a visit to Damascus in May, Bayraktar had said Türkiye would provide Syria with 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas annually, in addition to 1,000 megawatts of electricity. He had said this month that Azerbaijan’s SOCAR may be a partner in the project as well.

“We made a swap agreement with Azerbaijan, and the gas that will come from Azerbaijan will be exported to Aleppo, Syria, via Kilis,” a province in southernmost Türkiye near the Syrian border, he told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday.

The pipeline linking Kilis to Aleppo was completed in May, according to the minister.

Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir provided further details on the supply in a statement on Wednesday.

“Starting August 2, Syria will begin receiving 3.4 million cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan to Aleppo Governorate via Turkey,” al-Bashir said.

He explained that this would contribute to generating some 900 megawatts (MW) of electricity and help enhance the stability of the electricity grid in Syria.

Bayraktar said the gas provision would help Syria address its electricity needs, adding that this would be used as fuel in electricity production at the country’s existing power plants.

He added that Qatar would also be involved in this in terms of financing, and that ministers from the three countries would mark the start of the gas flow in a ceremony on Saturday.

“With the 6 million cubic metres of gas that we are planning to send there, we will be able to realize 1,200 megawatts of electricity production,” Bayraktar said.

Syria’s new government is seeking to rebuild the country’s economy as the war badly damaged its power infrastructure, leading to cuts that can last for more than 20 hours a day.

“With the natural gas that will be supplied, the goal is to increase the current three to four hours of daily electricity availability to 10 hours, making a positive impact on people’s lives,” Bayraktar said.

He added that Türkiye is already exporting electricity to northern Syria and plans to boost current deliveries to 280 MW via existing transmission lines.

Efforts are also underway to reactivate the 500 MW Birecik-Aleppo line, which was used in the past.

“The Turkish side of the line is intact. There’s major damage on the Syrian side. Once restored, we’ll be able to export nearly 900 MW, meeting the needs of around 1.6 million households,” Bayraktar said.

He emphasized that the easing of certain international sanctions has paved the way for these projects and highlighted their importance in helping to restore normal life in Syria and support the return of displaced people.

New oil pipeline deal with Iraq

Bayraktar also confirmed that Türkiye is working on a new agreement with Iraq to ensure the oil pipeline between the two countries operates at full capacity.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline has a daily capacity of 1.5 million barrels, but has never operated at full capacity.

Last week, Ankara said the decades-old accord covering the pipeline would end next year and has proposed expanding the deal to include cooperation in oil, gas, petrochemicals and electricity.

The pipeline operating at full capacity could translate into an annual business volume of around $40 billion, Bayraktar said.

In a decision published in its Official Gazette last week, Türkiye said the existing deal dating back to the 1970s – the Türkiye-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement – and all subsequent protocols or memoranda would be halted from July 27, 2026.

The accord would have automatically renewed unless either party objected a year in advance. But Bayraktar said Türkiye does not intend to extend a deal that is no longer commercially beneficial.

“This agreement is not one that provides commercial or legal benefits, so we decided not to extend it. However, immediately afterward, I sent our new draft agreement along with a letter to the Iraqi minister of oil. We stated that we now want to work on this matter through such an agreement concerning the pipeline between Iraq and Türkiye,” Bayraktar said.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has been idle since 2023 following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that Türkiye is appealing.

The ICC had ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion over what it said were unauthorized exports by Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.

Türkiye, on the other hand, said the ICC had recognized most of Ankara’s demands.

Multiple attempts to resume shipments have since failed, including due to disputes between Iraq, the KRG and the companies operating in the region.

The essence of the new agreement would be to ensure full utilization of the capacity of the pipeline “in a way that does not give rise to any legal disputes between us – let 1.5 million barrels of oil flow through it; that’s our goal,” Bayraktar said.

The Turkish government has also said the Development Road initiative – a high-speed road and rail link running from Iraq’s port city of Basrah on the Gulf to the Turkish border and later to Europe – is an opportunity to extend the pipeline south. Baghdad allocated initial funding for the project in 2023.

Bayraktar said the Development Road project could be turned into an “energy corridor.”

“Reaching 1.5 million barrels a day would mean nearly $40 billion in annual business volume. We’re telling Iraq: come, let’s build a refinery and petrochemical facilities in Ceyhan – if we have this much oil, it’s feasible to do so… There are very good, well-targeted projects to be done,” he added.

In order to reach 1.5 million barrels, the pipeline needs to be extended further south, Bayraktar said.

$4B worth of oil reserves

Meanwhile, Bayraktar also said Türkiye had discovered 57 million barrels of oil reserves valued at approximately $4 billion across several regions so far this year.

The discoveries were made in Diyarbakır, Gabar and Batman. Diyarbakır alone holds an estimated 4 to 6 million barrels of shale oil and shale gas, the minister said.

He noted that onshore exploration is ongoing with new discoveries and said the figures are likely to rise by the end of the year.

Türkiye is set to launch shale gas exploration in Diyarbakır and Thrace this year, according to Bayraktar.

He outlined Türkiye’s new focus on unconventional production, particularly shale gas and tight oil extraction, which requires horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rather than traditional vertical drilling.

“We will apply unconventional production methods in oil fields around Diyarbakır and in gas-bearing fields in Thrace,” he said.

The project covers four sites, including an area of about 600 square kilometers north of Bismil, where Türkiye plans to carry out 24 vertical and horizontal drillings, he added.

Fracturing will then be used to release trapped hydrocarbons.

“We’re working with American companies, global leaders in this technology, which has made the U.S. the world’s top oil and gas producer,” he continued.

“In evaluations with partners at the four sites, reserves of 350 million barrels have been identified,” Bayraktar noted.

Diyarbakır as a whole may hold 4 billion to 6 billion barrels of shale oil and gas potential, he added.

“This year, we will carry out one vertical drilling and fracturing operation. Our plan over the next three years is to explore the field with 24 wells and eventually move into production,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bayraktar also said Türkiye is in talks with Russia, China, Canada and South Korea on possible new nuclear power plants and aims to make the first reactor of its Akkuyu nuclear plant operational in 2026.

He also said a draft law on small modular reactors (SMRs) would be brought to Parliament after its summer recess, adding that this would aim to bring incentives.