Turkey to start providing Syria with natural gas on August 2: Minister

Turkey will start providing Syria with natural gas from August 2, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told state-owned Anadolu news agency on Wednesday, adding Azerbaijan would also be involved in the exports running through Turkey's Kilis province.

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

During a visit to Damascus in May, Turkish Energy Minister Bayraktar had said Turkey would provide Syria with 2 billion cubic meters 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.

On Wednesday, he said the natural gas provision would help Syria address its electricity needs as well, adding this would be used as fuel in electricity production at Syria's existing power plants.


Reuters